American Steamboat Reindeer Portrait After James Bard Oil Painting Lake Chaplain

Description

20th Century steamboat portrait of "Reindeer" After James Bard. The painting featurs the Champlain River American side wheel on a choppy afternoon. Framed in wood with gold finish.

The steamboat Reindeer was built at St. Albans in 1888. She was the largest steamer able to navigate the Otter Creek. Used primarily as an excursion boat, in 1903 the Reindeer sank at its dock in Burlington where it had been tied up for two years serving as a temporary home for the Lake Champlain Yacht Club after their clubhouse burned. The sinking was never fully explained, although one account said that an unsecured ash pit door allowed water to enter, and then winds compounded the problem, leading to a listing and then sinking of the vessel. The Reindeer was raised in December of 1903 and then towed off the lake to Whitehall, New York in the spring of 1904. That seems to have been the end of her career on Lake Champlain.

JAMES BARD (1815—1897)
Born in New York City, eight years after Robert Fulton sent the first steamboat up the Hudson River, James Bard saw and reflected in his marine paintings the industrial development of shipping in America.

He and his twin brother John Bard together painted more than 350 marine portraits, steamships and sailboats in the New York Harbor and on the Hudson River. Likely James did the outline sketches, and John filled in the color and backgrounds.

Condition

Very Good; Gently Wear From Use & Age

Dimensions

30" x 1 1/2" x 42"; canvas 24 x 36