"The Portland," Antonio Jacobsen

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Antonio Jacobsen (United States, 1850–1921), The Portland, 1891, oil on canvas, 24 1/2 x 38 inches. Gift of Walter B. and Marcia F. Goldfarb, 2018.19. Image courtesy of Luc Demers

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Built in Bath, Maine, in 1889, The Portland was one of the largest, fastest, and most luxurious steamboats of its day. In this detailed portrait, Antonio Jacobsen glorified the ship’s stately beauty and power as it cuts through the seas. The vessel dominates the composition and, despite the waves, maintains an even keel. The horizontally oriented composition, a typical format for ship portraits, allowed Jacobsen to convey the maximum amount of visual information about the ship’s construction.

The painting betrays no hint of the tragedy that would befall The Portland. On November 27, 1898, while traveling its regular route between Boston and Portland, the steamer sunk off the tip of Cape Cod in a fierce gale. All 192 passengers and crew members perished, including a Maine Senator and 19 members of Portland’s Abyssinian Church (a center of the city’s African-American community). The shipwreck remains the worst marine disaster in New England history.