The Ocean-Going Tug May McWilliams”

Antonio Jacobsen, The Ocean-Going Tug "May McWilliams", ca. 1895, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1966.83
Copied Antonio Jacobsen, The Ocean-Going Tug "May McWilliams", ca. 1895, oil on canvas, 22 1836 18 in. (56.291.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1966.83
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Artwork Details

Title
The Ocean-Going Tug May McWilliams”
Date
ca. 1895
Dimensions
22 1836 18 in. (56.291.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Waterscape — sea
  • Architecture — boat — May McWilliams
  • Travel — water — tugboat
Object Number
1966.83

Artwork Description

Antonio Jacobsen spent his free time at New York’s harbor and along the Hudson River, painting pictures of vessels as small as tugboats and as large as transatlantic liners. A close look at this painting of the tugboat May McWilliams shows the captain in the top cabin at the front of the vessel and a single passenger at the rear. Harbor captains used tugboats as early as the 1700s to escort larger ships through narrow or complicated passages.