Lot Essay
Julian Oliver Davidson was born in Cumberland, Maryland, on December 17, 1853. As a young man, he worked some time in his father's civil engineering business before his desire to pursue a career as a marine artist led him to join the crew of the Pacific Mail Company's seamship Arizona on an extended trip to the Orient. The following years were spent recording his travels in journals, sketchbooks and paintings. Upon his return to the U.S., Davidson studied with the marine painter Mauritz F.H. DeHaas whose bold and vigorous painting style strongly influenced his work. By 1876, Davidson was regularly exhibiting and selling his paintings as well as supplying illustrtions to newspapers. Some time later Davidson began writing and illustrating children's stories. After a long period of illness, Davidson died on April 30, 1894, at the young age of forty.
This print, which is after an original watercolor, was first published in 1887 as part of a serier titled "Pictures of American Sport". Among these chromolithographs were works depicting important yacht races reproduced from paintings by well-known marine artists of the day. This print shows the racing yachts Mayflower and Galatea in New York Harbor. The present whereabouts of the painting is unknown.
This print, which is after an original watercolor, was first published in 1887 as part of a serier titled "Pictures of American Sport". Among these chromolithographs were works depicting important yacht races reproduced from paintings by well-known marine artists of the day. This print shows the racing yachts Mayflower and Galatea in New York Harbor. The present whereabouts of the painting is unknown.