An elusive and sought-after marine painter of the American Folk Art tradition, in the manner of James Bard, Antonio Jacobsen and William Stubbs, artist Charles Raleigh hits a high point in this direct commissioned portrait of the East Coast Schooner JOSEPH G. DEAN, as the three-masted coastal schooner rides her full sails off the Massachusetts Coast.
Note the fine details of the men on deck, with Captain Zabina H. Chase onboard. Chase was a primary owner alongside of members of the Dean and Russell Families, all of New Bedford, where the ship was built by carpenter David Clark in the Dean & Driggs Yard at Merrill's Wharf in 1882. Family members owned part of her interest with Captain Chase, and named her after the shipyard's founder, Joseph G. Dean, who started fitting out New Bedford whaleships in 1836. Measuring 155.65 feet in length, the white-hulled schooner would have made a striking visual presence cutting the waters of the coastal Atlantic.
Desirable elements in American ship portraiture are the employment of all the sails for top speed beneath a sky with luminous touches, as Raleigh has mastered through oil and color illusion. The glowing light this provides softly accents the clouds at the lower elevations while making the ridges of choppy waves shine. He has proudly captured a beautiful East Coast schooner for her family of owners.
