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~dq~Maria~dq~ Racing the Schooner Yacht ~dq~America,~dq~ May 1851 signed "J.E. Buttersworth" (lower right) oil on canvas 181/8 x 241/8 in. (46 x 61.3 cm) painted circa 1851 provenance Walter Nelson Pharr III Glen S. Foster, NEW YORK Literature Richard B. Grassby, Ship, Sea & Sky: The Marine Art of James Edward Buttersworth, South Street Seaport Museum, New York, 1994, pp. 96, 98, (illustrated in color p. 96, pl. 29) John Parkinson, Jr., The History of The New York Yacht Club, New York, 1975, vol. I, pp. 10-12, 18-26, 31, 40, 42-43, 49-50, 52, 116, 559-560 John Rousmaniere, America~dq~s Cup Book, Milan, 1983, pp. 10-18 Rudolph J. Schaefer, J. E. Buttersworth: 19th-Century Marine Painter, Mystic, 1975, pp. 97-99, (illustrated p. 97, pl. VI) W.P. Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting, Camden, 1981, pp. 8-9, 11, 37-39, 44, 111-112, 159, 269, 271, 297 James Taylor, yachts on canvas: artists~dq~ images of yachts from the seventeenth century to the present day, london, 1998, p. 84 (illustrated in color) This is sold together with the related print, 71A. 71A NATHANIEL CURRIER (1813-1888) Cutter Yacht ~dq~Maria~dq~ color lithograph, 1852 191/2 x 25 in. (49.5 x 63.5 cm) inscribed in the margins "Modelled by R.L. Stevens Esq. Owned by the Messrs. Stevens of New York To John C. Stevens, Esq., Commodore of the New York Yacht Club Published by N. Currier, 152 Nassau Street, New York" printed in 1852 provenance Glen S. Foster, NEW YORK America, the most famous of all racing yachts because of her victory at Cowes on August 22, 1851, over the Royal Yacht Squadron, was a poor second to Maria in her tune up races against Maria in May of that year. Maria was designed 1845 by Robert L. Stevens, of the founding brothers of the Stevens Institute of Technology, in collaboration with his two brothers Commodore John Cox Stevens and Commodore Edwin L. Stevens. Maria, as originally built, was a sloop-the largest of her day. He proportions were gigantic, 107~dq~ L.W.L., topmast head 130~dq~ above the water, main boom 97~dq~, jib boom 70~dq~, main centerboard seven tons. She was an innovative out-and-out shoal draft racing machine with twin centerboards, hollow spars and booms, lead ballast molded to the bilges, and cross-cut sails-an innovation credited to Captain Nat. Herreshoff forty years latter. Black Maria (as she was affectionately known by the sporting public and named for Commodore Stevens~dq~s wife, Maria Livingstone) was a difficult boat. Her fifteen-man crew fought to trim her sails, she was hard to steer, and she was dogged by constant rigging failures. However, when she did finish it was usually in first place. In her day, Maria was the yacht to beat. In order to take advantage of the acute interest in the contest between the two vessels, Buttersworth painted the trial race with an eye towards having it reproduced as a lithograph (the N. Currier lithograph accompanies this lot). America had just been launched and she was testing out against Maria, a known commodity. Maria beat her badly, and there was disappointment and trepidation about sending America across the Atlantic to take on England~dq~s best. Though faster than America, Maria was too tender to make the trip to Cowes. America sailed over as planned, and was fast enough to coin the legendary phrase "Your Majesty, there is no second." This will be sold together with the painting of this subject, 71.