William Bradford (1823-1892)
Fresh Breeze off Sandy Hook
signed and dated 'Wm Bradford. / 1860' (lower right)
oil on canvas laid down on cradled Masonite
32 1/4 x 48 in. (81.9 x 121.9 cm.)
Painted in 1860.
Footnotes:
Provenance
Sale, Sotheby's, New York, May 24, 1990, lot 54. (as Shipping in Rough Waters)
Vallejo Gallery, Newport Beach, California, acquired at the above sale.
Private collection, Kauai, Hawaii and Laguna Beach, California, acquired from the above.
Vallejo Gallery, Newport Beach, California, from the above.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, circa 2005.

Exhibited
New York, National Academy of Design, Thirty-Fifth Annual Exhibition, April-June 1860, p. 18, no. 167.

Literature
'National Academy of Design Second Notice,' The Crayon, New York, June 1860, vol. vii, no. 6, p. 172.
'Obituary: William Bradford,' The New York Herald, New York, April 26, 1892, whole no. 20,336, p. 12. (as A Fresh Breeze off Sandy Hook)
'Personal and General Notes.,' The Daily Picayune, New Orleans, May 1, 1892, vol. LVI, no. 98, p. 6. (as A Fresh Breeze off Sandy Hook)
National Academy of Design, National Academy of Design Exhibition Record: 1826-1860, New York, 1943, vol. 1, p. 48, no. 167.
R.C. Kugler, E.A.R. Ronnberg, Jr., A. Greenhalgh, R.M. Riefstahl, William Bradford: Sailing Ships & Arctic Seas, exhibition catalogue, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 2003, p. 13, fig. 10, illustrated.

William Bradford's Fresh Breeze off Sandy Hook is a remarkable example from the artist's oeuvre that demonstrates his mastery as a marine painter, combining the tonal effects of light and color generated by the setting sun on the ocean with the accurate detailing of the ships he renders to form a harmonious and flawless composition. From his beginnings as a draftsman and painter, William Bradford sought to portray his scenes with the greatest accuracy. 'A block or line of rigging out of place, a mast set too forward or aft, the improper location of boat davits and deck furniture, or sloppy rendering of a figurehead would not escape scrutiny...' (R.C. Kugler, William Bradford: Sailing Ships & Arctic Seas, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 2003, p. 6)

Bradford was born on April 30, 1823, in Fairhaven, Massachusetts and was raised in the whaling town of New Bedford, near Cape Cod. He spent his youth surrounded by water and wharves and became well acquainted with both the whaleships and sailors that worked the region. The young Bradford was an astute observer of the designs of ships, as well as the tonal effects of light against water. Bradford's first notable success as an artist came with the sale of his painting, Whaleship Fireh Perry off Clark's Point, New Bedford (1852, private collection). At the beginning of his artistic career, Bradford made a successful name for himself as a ship portraitist, accepting commissions from owners of vessels and shipmasters. It was at this time a critic from the Boston Atlas wrote, 'Mr. Bradford has a good eye for naval architecture, and his 'portraits,' had they other merit, would be distinguished for their fidelity. This is especially remarkable in the facility with which [he] seizes upon the peculiar construction of the model; but at the same time it may be seen in the accuracy with which he realizes every part of the ship, even to a block or bulwark. The sea and atmosphere are also well rendered; and the general effect is that of an agreeable picture.' (William Bradford: Sailing Ships & Arctic Seas, p. 6) He quickly gained a reputation for his talents depicting naval architecture with incredible accuracy, but he soon grew tired of the subject matter and repetitive work, writing that 'for eighteen months, I painted portraits of whalers and merchantmen, till the broadside of a vessel became absolutely loathsome to me.' (William Bradford: Sailing Ships & Arctic Seas, p. 7)

Fortunately for Bradford, he would find renewed inspiration in the form of a new mentor. Albert Van Beest (1820-1860), a Dutch-trained marine artist from Rotterdam, arrived in New York in 1854 where Bradford met him and persuaded him to take up residency with the Bradford family in New Bedford and share Bradford's Fairhaven studio. Van Beest's contributions proved to be crucial to Bradford's development as an artist, as he encouraged Bradford to develop a more sophisticated approach to the ocean and advocated for him to progress away from ship portraits to dramatic marine compositions with more dynamic narratives. Bradford and Van Beest collaborated on several paintings, the most significant being New York Yacht Club Regatta off New Bedford (1856, Edgartown Yacht Club) completed in the summer of 1856 on the occasion of New Bedford inviting the New York Yacht Club to hold its annual regatta in Buzzards Bay instead of Newport. By the end of the 1850s, Bradford had evolved his subject matter and style from mere ship portraits to compelling marine compositions revered for their detailed presentation of vessels set naturally on the waters where he observed them, framed by the familiar headlands, shoreside wharves, and structures he recorded.

Painted beginning in 1859 and finished in 1860 just in time to be submitted to the National Academy of Design's annual exhibition of that same year, Fresh Breeze off Sandy Hook is an exceptional example that exhibits the artist's newly mature style as a marine painter. In the present work, Bradford depicts an array of vessels traversing America's busiest port at the end of a windy, choppy day and demonstrates his mastered abilities as a luminist, a quality particularly shared in his later paintings of the Arctic. Bradford paints with atmospheric precision the sun glowing brightly through the dense clouds with golden hues of yellow and orange light reflecting off the water in its final moments before setting below the horizon line. Furthermore, Bradford's mastery of portraying with accuracy the architectural details of the various ships he observed is also on full display in Fresh Breeze off Sandy Hook, as he paints with precision their lines, masts, hulls, and sails. The juxtaposition of the steam ship among the sailing vessels arguably brings attention to the growing popularity of the steam ship in America at the time and foreshadows its vital role in the impending American Civil War. The men he portrays on each ship appear to be either pulling up the last of their lines or in a moment of rest, gazing onward toward the powerful steamer at center and the divine sunset in the distance. In Fresh Breeze off Sandy Hook, Bradford beautifully captures the transition from day to night, as well as a nation's transition from sail to steam.