: Unsigned, in need of cleaning and with a puncture inflicted by
Hurricane Charlie, the oil on canvas ship portrait still managed
to fetch a world record price of $281,000 at Skinner's February
19 Americana sale.
The circa 1873 painting was originally identified as a J.E.
Buttersworth ship portrait during an Antiques Roadshow
segment taped in Tampa, Fla., but when it came to Skinner,
extensive and meticulous scholarship revealed it to be an Antonio
Jacobsen image of the schooner Dreadnought about to round
the mark in a New York Yacht Club race.
Said consultant Charlie Lannagan, who researched the picture,
it's simply "a masterpiece." Because of the uncertainty about the
artist when the catalog went to press, no estimate was published.
Skinner's Boston gallery is at 63 Park Plaza. For information,
www.skinnerinc.com.
