Artwork
Towboat "John Birkbeck"
Towboat "John Birkbeck" is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist James Bard. It dates from 1854 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: Picture Drawn & Painted by James Bard N.Y. 1854 / 162 Perry St.; on forward banner: J.B; on rear banner: JOHN BIRKBECK.; on boat: JOHN BIRKBECK.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Consequently, the sources supply no details about symbolic meaning or allegorical content beyond the literal depiction of the towboat.
The painting Towboat "John Birkbeck" (1854) by James Bard shows a single vessel identified solely as a boat in the work’s metadata. The title specifies that the craft is the towboat John Birkbeck, but the image itself offers no additional attributes, such as rigging, cargo, or setting, that would allow further iconographic reading. Consequently, the sources supply no details about symbolic meaning or allegorical content beyond the literal depiction of the towboat.
Technique & Style
Towboat "John Birkbeck" is an oil on canvas painting by James Bard, dated 1854. The work is executed in oil paint on a canvas support, a standard medium for mid-nineteenth-century American marine portraiture. Its dimensions are 75.8 cm in height by 133 cm in width, giving it a horizontal format suited to the broad profile of the vessel depicted.
The painting is classified as a painting and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. No specific condition reports, stylistic analyses, or handling notes are documented in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The oil painting Towboat "John Birkbeck" was created by James Bard in 1854. Its provenance begins with an undocumented owner in New York, noted as being held by Yesteryear in Kingston, New York, in 1939. In August 1940, Frederick F. Hill, acting as purchasing agent for the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, acquired the work from an unknown dealer.
The painting then passed through the Old Print Shop in New York, which sold it in 1951 to collectors Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. The Garbisches donated the canvas to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1971, where it remains today.
The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It entered the museum in 1971 as a gift from Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, having been bought in 1940 by Frederick F. Hill for the Mariner's Museum and later sold to the Garbisches in 1951. No exhibition record is cited in the available sources, so its public display history remains undocumented. The work is catalogued in the museum's collection of American marine paintings.
Overview
James Bard's Towboat "John Birkbeck", created in 1854, is an oil on canvas painting that exemplifies his focus on maritime subjects. As a prominent 19th-century marine artist, Bard specialized in rendering watercraft, particularly steamboats. This work features a specific towboat, showcasing the artist's dedication to depicting the vessels that navigated American waterways during his era.
Context
Hailing from a family of ship painters in New York, James Bard dedicated his career to illustrating boats. He often collaborated with his twin brother, John, on earlier projects until John's passing in 1856. This familial background and professional focus underscore Bard's profound understanding of nautical engineering and his role as a visual chronicler of 19th-century marine technology.
Artist & collection
Artist
James Bard (1815–1897) was a marine artist of the 19th century. He is known for his paintings of watercraft, particularly of steamboats. His works are sometimes characterized as naïve art. Although Bard died poor and…
