AFA Winter 2017

2017 Antiques & Fine Art 77 T hanks to the keen eye of its collector and founder, Sewell C. Biggs, the Biggs Museum of American Art, in Dover, Delaware, has a remarkable and varied collection that includes paintings, furniture, and decorative arts. One of the most impressive works in the Biggs collection is a stunning painting by Philadelphia artist, George Robert Bonfield (1805– 1898), entitled Summer on the Delaware (1850) . What I admire about Bonfield’s work is that he experimented with the abstract possibilities of color and form in the seascape. Bonfield’s composition shows a particular allegiance to the art of Thomas Birch (1779–1851). His approach to his marine paintings display less interest in topographical detail than the works of his con- temporaries. He had a lifelong fascination for tall ships and the sea (as indicated by his childhood sketches drawn in his schoolbooks), and his ships move, his seas are alive, and his sails form sweeping arcs. Bonfield’s marine paintings reveal a decided Dutch influence of contrasting light and dark to dramatize his prominent subjects. His brushwork is not that of a draftsman but of a Romantic with a loose flowing application. Depth and perspective are achieved by low hori- zons under large skies of billowing clouds, so that the feeling conveyed to the viewer is of an artist who knew his subject well and could translate that knowledge into a strong expression. My own collection of marine art began at an early age, when, as one born “under a water sign,” I was attracted to marine art in museums. I so admired Bonfield’s works that I began to collect them where I could and now own several, among other American marine artists. During the nineteenth century, Bonfield, like another artist of the period, such as James Hamilton (born Ireland,1819, died San Francisco,1878), enjoyed attention from collectors and galleries, but public tastes changed in the twentieth century and their work lost favor. Another reason I enjoy the Biggs Museum is that its collection contains the works of both of these artists. —James McClelland A Collector’s Perspective on the Biggs Museum George Robert Bonfield (1805–1898), Summer on the Delaware, 1850. Oil on canvas. Biggs Museum of Art. Sewell C. Biggs bequest (204.443).