Marine Art: Prominent Maine Marine Painters

Schooner Alfred Brabrook

William Pierce Stubbs (1842-1909) of Bucksport, James Gardiner Babbidge (1849-1919) of Rockland, and Percy A. Sanborn (1849-1929) of Belfast were all marine artists native to Penobscot Bay towns.  All were most active in their careers in the 1870s and 1880s, around the time photography began to compete with painting.  These artists tended to paint using patterned and consistent composition.  Usually, their vessels are painted broadside and sail from right to left across the painting. Waves and water appear regimented, flowing either parallel to the hull or diagonal to it.  

The three-masted schooner Alfred Brabrook was built in 1873 in Bath, Maine, at Goss and Sawyer.

Schooner Augusta E. Herrick

The Augusta E. Herrick was built in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1877 for William P. Herrick, a successful Swans Island mackerel fisherman. The Herrick was the only centerboard schooner ever to be employed in the North Atlantic fisheries. In addition to fishing for mackerel, the Herrick carried fruit between New York and the West Indies in the winter. She was wrecked off Honduras in 1900.

Sanborn, like many European port painters, lettered the name of the vessel, her master, the date and place of building, and sometimes information about record passages at the bottom of his canvases.  He also was known for painting scenery, animals, and decorations on bean pots and other items such as the Belfast Bank sign pictured here. 

The William H. Conner was the largest and the last full-rigged ship built in Searsport. She was built in 1877 and cost over $100,000.

Bank Sign

Ship William H. Conner

Waldo Peirce (1884-1970) summered in Searsport for many years. He gave a number of his paintings to the Searsport schools his children attended. Some had a maritime theme.

Whaling Scene     Carver Yard with the John Carver on the Ways

Schooner Elizabeth

George Wasson (1855-1932) was an artist and author who painted scenes and vessels of Penobscot Bay. He is also known for his book Sailing Days on the Penobscot, which has an introduction by Searsport's Lincoln Colcord (See Life at Sea Resource List.)