An interesting view of dockside activity, where a man riding a scaffold is painting the metal hull of the German Barque CARIOLANUS with the red oxide primer to retard the attack of the harsh elements and keep the ship sailing on. The plated sections are visible, with the edges lapped over in a roofing style of construction. Another worker stands in the ready on the pier, amongst the barrels awaiting stowage, to assist the workman in moving the plank and keeping him supplied.
German shipping interest built a steel-hulled CARIOLANUS in 1902, and she sailed wide around the world in the last emigrant and nitrate trades, as well as carrying individual cargo runs when they would be found. The ship has arrived in New Bedford, where she is captured by Gleason undergoing some needed upkeep to the ship. The name itself comes down through history, first as a Roman Aristocrat, immortalized by the English master William Shakespear, as well as at least two other 19th Century sailing ships, one of which sank off Rincon Point, near Santa Barbara, California in 1889.
The diversity of Gleason's output is to celebrated. This subject is a nice complement to an artist who hung with Hollywood's elite, was an Olympic champion and a devoted family man, in so much that he could accurately and artistically depict the menial nature of the hard-working sailors. There is no phony glamour here, yet it is a beautiful painting with an interesting composition and a color flair which succeeds in drawing eyes to the painting. The soft swirls in the pier's wood grain planks alone draw a viewer along the boards, to wonder what lay at stern and across New Bedford Harbor.
Provenance: Private California Collection.Original Artist Label with Title Verso
