Aaron Anderson
Specialist, Head of Sale
Property from the Collection of a Motion Picture Producer and Executive, California
Lot 90
Antonio Nicolo Gasparo Jacobsen(1850-1921)Daniel Steinmann 22 1/8 x 36in (56.2 x 91.4cm)
19 November 2019, 16:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$2,550 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our American Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Antonio Nicolo Gasparo Jacobsen (1850-1921)
Daniel Steinmann
signed, dated and inscribed 'Antonio Jacobsen. NY 1879 / 257 8 Av.'' (lower right)
oil on canvas
22 1/8 x 36in (56.2 x 91.4cm)
Painted in 1879.
signed, dated and inscribed 'Antonio Jacobsen. NY 1879 / 257 8 Av.'' (lower right)
oil on canvas
22 1/8 x 36in (56.2 x 91.4cm)
Painted in 1879.
Footnotes
Provenance
Smith Gallery, New York, by 1981.
Acquired by the present owner (probably) from the above.
Literature
H.S. Sniffen, Antonio Jacobsen - The Checklist: Paintings and Sketches by Antonio N.G. Jacobsen (1850-1921), New York, 1984, p. 88, no. 13.
The present work painted in 1879 was listed in H.S. Sniffen's checklist of paintings by Antonio Jacobsen as one of two paintings depicting the Daniel Steinmann, the other painted in 1877 in a private collection in Belgium. A sketch of the Daniel Steinmann done in 1883 was listed in the collection of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia.
The Daniel Steinmann was a Belgian passenger liner of the White Cross Line built by Societe Cockerills ship builders in 1875 in Antwerp. The vessel was originally christened as the Khedive when construction was completed, but was renamed when she was later purchased by the White Cross Line in 1877 in honor of the company's Swiss founder, Mr. Daniel Steinmann. In her heyday, she ran multiple routes between Antwerp and the Americas, making frequent stops in South America, New York, Boston, Halifax, Quebec, and Montreal. The present lot painted by Jacobsen in 1879 depicts the Daniel Steinmann sailing triumphantly across the Atlantic with passengers in tow.
On April 3, 1884, the Daniel Steinmann tragically sank off the coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. In heavy fog and weather, the ship's captain mistook the Sambro Island Lighthouse located several kilometers from the mainland for that of Chebucto Head and the southwestern limit of Halifax Harbor, where the ship most likely would have docked so a harbor pilot could board and guide the ship safely into Halifax Harbor. The vessel struck one of the many dangerous shoals that surround Sambro Island Lighthouse and quickly began to take on water. As the evacuation began, a wave collided with the ship, causing her to slip from the shoals into the sea and sink almost instantly. Of the 130 souls on board, only three passengers and six crew members survived. Following the loss of the Daniel Steinmann along with two other vessels in the years directly beforehand, the White Cross Line discontinued its passenger services the same year.