This painting is considered the most significant work ever created by the prolific Antonio Jacobsen. In an exceptional composition, Jacobsen shows four of the elite racing schooners of yachting's golden era, GRAYLING, MAGIC, DAUNTLESS and ALARM in close competition during the New York Yacht Club's 1888 fall regatta.
All four of the yachts wear the burgee of the New York Yacht Club and are portrayed on a broad reach as they approach the 8 1/2 mile buoy that marked one leg of the 30 mile course. Luffing her giant queen-fisherman staysail, GRAYLING, has taken the lead and would continue on to emerge victorious at the finish line. Jacobsen has captured all of the grace and power of the versatile schooner rig with perfection in this work.
Of all the paintings in Antonio Jacobsen's substantial body of work, it is his early yachting scenes that are most prized by collectors. This example has the added importance of showing no less than four early America's cup contenders, giving it a place at the very top of Jacobsen's celebrated output.
