Montague Dawson, R.M.S.A., F.R.S.A. (1895-1973)
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Montague Dawson, R.M.S.A., F.R.S.A. (1895-1973)

Pacific Dawn - Queen of Clippers

Details
Montague Dawson, R.M.S.A., F.R.S.A. (1895-1973)
Pacific Dawn - Queen of Clippers
signed 'Montague Dawson' (lower left)
oil on canvas
40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm.)
Provenance
with Frost & Reed, London, 1962, no. 31887.
Special notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

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Clare Keiller
Clare Keiller

Lot Essay

One of Dawson's finest works, this painting provides an exceptional example of his unique and unfaltering ability to capture the power and majesty of the great clipper ships, and the romance of a bygone era. Queen of Clippers, is placed in the centre of composition, lit from behind by the glow of the rising sun which creates a halo of light around the clipper, emphasising the grandeur and the isolation of the ship as she ploughs through the ocean.

Queen of Clippers was one of a famous trio of clippers, including the John Bertram and Winged Racer, designed and built by Robert E. Jackson at East Boston, Massachusetts, for the Californian Gold Rush. Ordered by Messrs. Seccomb & Taylor, no expense was spared to make her the perfect ship and ensure her success. Registered at 2,300 tons and measuring 258 feet in length and with a 44 foot beam, she was capable of 18 knots with a leading wind. The figurehead was the creation of J. W. Mason, regarded as one of the most skilled artists of the time. The Boston Daily Atlas reported on 2 April 1853 'This splendid vessel has been the admiration of all who have inspected her, not only for her faultless beauty of her model, but also for the strength of her construction and the excellence of the workmanship.'

On her maiden voyage to the Pacific in June 1853, Queen of Clippers developed a serious leak by the time she reached San Francisco. Despite this, which forced her to go into Callao, Peru, and Bahia, Brazil on her return journey, she reached New York again a year later, before joining the Atlantic trade route to Liverpool and the Mediterranean. Due to her speed and strength she was chartered by the French government during the Crimean war, before being sold in 1856 to owners in Marseille. Sadly, after this she disappears from the records, although she was rumoured to have been lost at sea a few years later.

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