Salmon, Robert (Scottish-American 1775-1844)
Oil on canvas, titled: "A Mail Packet in the Clyde", signed and dated lower right: "R S 1824" and inscribed on the reverse: "No. 400 Painted By R Salmon 1824". This painting represents a major work by the master Robert Salmon. The painting exhibits many of the classical features unique to Robert Salmon's style. The sky and water are painted in a typical Salmon like manner with the sea illuminated around the vessel and dark in the foreground. The mail packet is the main subject of the painting. She is in a hoved-to position to allow the figures in a small boat to board. The rigging sails and other vessel details are in remarkably fine detail. The figures onboard the main vessel are both more plentiful and painted in greater detail than the average Salmon painting. There are three flags flying from the main vessel which add great color to the painting. The medallion painted on the sail also brings great color. To the left is another primary vehicle entering the harbor. In the distance is a lighthouse marking the entrance to the harbor. There are several other vessels in the painting and a typical long boat with oarsmen in the foreground. (PA-281)
Condition of Painting: Condition: The painting was restored when Glen Foster purchased it about 40 years ago. At that time, that time the painting was cleaned and lined. There are some small scattered in paint in the sky. The edges have typical frame abrasion which was repaired. On the small boat on the right there I some in-painting on the furled sail otherwise all the vessels untouched. For a painting over 200 years old the condition the painting is in excellent condition.
Condition: of Frame: There are few losses to gilded surface.The painting has a contemporary wood and compo frame with hand applied gesso and 22K gold leaf. The frame is an excellent quality reproduction frame in the style of the first quarter of the 19th Century.
Reference: Wilmerding, John, "ROBERT SALMON Painter of Ship & Shore", pp. 21 and 33. Stylistically, the paintings illustrated on these pages are very similar to the painting described above. The first of these paintings was painted in 1817 and is in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum Salem, Massachusetts and the other was painted in 1829 and is at the Bostonian Society, Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts.
Dimensions of painting: 22 5/8 x 37 inches. Dimensions of frame: 30 x 44 1/2 inches.
Reference: Davidson, A.S., "Marine Art & The Clyde", England: Jones-Sands Publishing, 2001, p. 41. This painting appears in color on the dust jacket cover of this book and is also illustrated and described on page 41. Provenance: Ex-collection of Glen Foster, New York, NY.
