Steamer Niagara Passing Fort Washington Point, 1845

Date1852

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsSight: 39 1/2 × 61 1/2 in. (100.3 × 156.2 cm)

Object numberN0191.1956

Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Mrs. Edmund Derthick

Photograph by Richard Walker

Label TextThis portrait of the Niagara was probably commissioned by its captain, Albert DeGroot. The ship is shown passing Fort Washington Point, the present day eastern end of the George Washington Bridge in New York City. Although executed in 1852, the date attached to the title indicates the client's wishes to have the ship's 1845 inaugural launching commemorated. The Niagara was used as a day boat for the New York, Albany, and Troy Line until 1847. James Bard was a leading ship portraitist in New York City from 1830 to 1890. Bard, who often painted with his brother, John, meticulously measured every part of a ship in order to paint the image to scale and capture every detail. His clients were marine entrepreneurs, merchants, and seagoing men who desired ship portraits for posterity, status, and advertising. The Niagara is a Bard tour-de-force by virtue of the painting's size, rich detail, and striking landscape. It is likely that Bard lavished attention on this picture because two of his most important patrons - Thomas Collyer and Albert DeGroot - had an interest in the vessel. The painting was probably commissioned by DeGroot, as it descended in his family. The Niagara was built by Thomas and William Collyer at their yard at the foot of 12th Street on the East River in 1845. Weighing 730 tons and measuring 265' in length, it was used as a day boat for the New York, Albany and Troy Line. In 1847, while racing a competitor, the Niagara burst a steam chimney, killing two firemen and injuring seven passengers. After repairs, the vessel was sold to the Housatonic Railroad in 1848 for the New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut route. The Niagara was later used for excursions around New York, and in 1860 was converted to a tugboat for the Schuyler Line. It was broken up in 1898. Captain Albert DeGroot was a native of Staten Island. His father was a neighbor of Commodore Vanderbilt, who gave Albert his start as a deck hand. DeGroot became close friends with Vanderbilt, and rose to be captain of the Sandusky, Osceola, Niagara, and Reindeer. Well-off, he retired to Richfield Springs, New York, and died there in 1884. At times, Bard painted a recognizable background for a favored client. Here he depicts the Niagara passing Fort Washington Point, site of the present-day eastern terminus of the George Washington Bridge. Although the painting was executed in 1852, the date attached to the title clearly indicates the client's wishes to have the boat's 1845 launching commemorated in the painting.
Exhibition History“American Folk Art: Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, January 25, 2001 – March 24, 2001.
BibliographyThe Mariner’s Museum in collaboration with Anthony J. Peluso, Jr., The Bard Brothers: Painting America Under Steam and Sail (New York: H.N. Abrams Inc., 1997).

Jean Lipman, Five Star Folk Art: One Hundred American Masterpieces (New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc. in association with the Museum of American Folk Art, 1990).

Jean Lipman and Alice Winchester, Primitive Painters in America, 1750-1950 (New York: Dodd and Mead, 1950), p.121-131.

Henry Hazkton, “The Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens Countics of Nassau and Suffolk Long Island, NY 1609-1924.”

Harold S. Sniffen, “James and John Bard…Painters of Steamboat Portraits,” in Art in
America vol.37, no.2 (April 1949), p.52-66, bibliography 67-78.

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