Antonio Nicolo Gasparo Jacobsen (1850-1921)
S.S. France
signed and dated 'A. JACOBSEN / 1912' (lower right)
oil on board
24 x 47 3/4 in. (61 x 121.3 cm.)
Painted in 1912.
Footnotes:
Provenance
George (Jongejans) Gaynes (1917-2016), North Bend, Washington, 1950s.
By descent to the present owner from the above, 2016.

The S.S. France, originally laid down in February 1909 as Picardie, was completed and introduced into the Transatlantic route in April of 1912 just a week after the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Sailing for the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) or French Line, she was designed to be over twice the size of any ship in the French merchant fleet and would be France's first venture into building and operating a quadruple-screw liner, as well as their first and only four-funneled liner and their first ship powered by Parsons steam turbines. Her interiors were appointed in Baroque revival and Style Louis seize and were among the most lavish of the Transatlantic liners of the period. Among her interior's notable features, she has been credited for bringing the grand staircase to the ocean liner and her first-class accommodations were famously decorated with portraits of Louis XIV.

When World War I erupted in 1914, she was requisitioned by the French Navy and renamed France IV. She was converted into an auxiliary cruiser and then into a troop transport until 1916 when she served briefly as a hospital ship. When the United States entered the war in 1917, she ferried American troops to Europe until 1918 when an engine room explosion halted her service. She was returned to the French Line in March 1919 with her name reverted back to France, however, she continued her mission repatriating American troops until the autumn of that year. She returned to service refurbished in early 1920 and became known as the 'Versailles of the Atlantic' for her elaborate and elegant décor. In 1924 she was modified to burn oil instead of coal and was converted to nearly an all-first-class ship. The Great Depression would mark the downfall of France and in 1932, she was withdrawn from service and laid up in Le Havre. Finally in April 1935, it was decided that she would sail from Le Havre to Dunkirk to be broken up. The present work was once in the collection of singer, actor, and voice artist, George Gaynes (1917-2016). Among his many notable roles and apparencies in cinema and television, Gaynes' is remembered best for his role as Commandant Eric Lassard in the Police Academy series and as John Van Horn in the 1982 film Tootsie.