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Large Ship Portrait of the *Hamburger Viermaster Pisagua - geführt von Capt. E. Bahlke* off a coastline 1893 - the four-masted Bark and Flying P-Liner is shown under full sail at sea with other shipping and a white cliffs headland on the right - Oil on canvas, 61 by 91 cm (24 by 36 inch), with frame 94 x 120 cm (37 by 47 inch) - signed lower left, inscribed with title and ship`s name also mentioned on bow and in flag - price: EUR 7.980 (convert to US$ )

Note: The painting is housed in a monumental and partly real gilted gesso frame which is the original frame. This representative frame has small chips in a few places but is otherwise in good condition. The painting has been preserved in the family of Capt. Bahlke from 1893 until early 2007. It has never been cleaned or restored when being in the family and showed a thick layer of dirt and yellowed varnish as well as a small tear in the middle and inconsistence of paint in the lower right and upper left area. It has now carefully been cleaned and restored and is ready to hang. This early P-Liner portrait can be considered as an unusual and remarkable well done work by the young Jensen. Photo Copyright is with the FineArtEmporium.

Alfred Jensen
(German, 1859-1935)

* offered subject to prior sale by: Karsten Buchholz KG Hamburg, Germany *

The painting is ready to hang and is also suitable for exposure as a centre piece in a living room, office or on a larger yacht. A viewing distance of at least seven feet (2 Meter) or more is recommended. To follow the history of this ship is quite interesting as it is an early example of one of the famous "Flying P-Liners" who ruled the waves around the turn of the century and are often considered as some of the most beautiful "Windjammer" sailing vessels ever built world-wide. There exist not many period ship portrait (commissioned by the captain or shipping company) of one of these "Bluewater Race-Horses of the Seven Seas" since they mostly called for remote harbors (eg. in Southern America) where no ship portrait artists were available. In their home port Hamburg there were only two remarkable ship portrait artists available in this period - Heinrich Petersen and Alfred Jensen. The compiler of this text is not aware of any ship portrait of a P-Liner by Alfred Jensen which appeared on the art market in the last 17 years. There exist some examples in the houses of the old Maritime Families in the West of Hamburg (in Blankenese, Nienstedten and Othmarschen) but these are appreciated by the owners and are not for sale. When I was living in the area in the 1990s I tried to acquire one of these paintings but there was no chance at all.

The "Pisagua" was built in 1892 as a four-masted steel barque by Joh. C. Tecklenborg in Geestemünde for F. Laeisz in Hamburg. The sister ship was the "Placilla". It was first commanded by Captain J. Früdden and sailed from Lizard Point to Valparaiso in 71 days and from Iquique to Lizard Point in 74 days. In 1893 Captain E. Bahlke took over the command (and on this occasion this ship portrait was executed for him) and made in the next 8 years until 1901 many remarkable voyages (mostly to Chile), eg. from the English Channel to Taltal in 69 days or from Lizard Point to Iquique in 69 days or to Valparaiso in only 67 days or from Lizard Point to Calcutta in 99 days and from Calcutta to Boston, MA in 111 days. From 1901 until 1903 the ship was commanded by Hinrich Nissen and from 1904 until 1908 by H.A. Dehnhardt. Two other captains followed until in 1912 it had a collision with the P&O Steamer "Oceana" at Beechy Head (it was the blame of the steamer !) and was towed to Dover for repair and sold in the same year to Norway. Only one year later in 1913 it stranded at the Shetland Islands. The command of the "Pisagua" was a climax in the career of Captain Bahlke and the perious owner told me how proud his ancestor was of this fine ship.

Alfred Jensen is widely known as a marine painter - with an extensive Ouevre. Only few of his paintings done after 1905 and after he became "Prof." in Hamburg are worth to mention which was caused by overproduction and later also by strong drinking. Anyway his rare, early paintings and especially his Ship Portraits done before 1900 are of a remarkable quality and show the full ability of this artist which got later unfortunately lost. He is represented in many museums, eg. in the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven, in the Museum Altona in Hamburg, in the Maritime Museum Rostock etc. - mostly with his well done early works.

Any questions are welcome, please send your e-mail to: bais@gmx.de or call at 040-827927 - This description has been written by Mr. Karsten Buchholz. As always this offer is subject to prior sale.

Suchworte / Search words: Ship Portrait, Pierhead Painters, Schiffsportrait, Schiffsporträt, Kapitänsbild, marine art, painting, maritime, sea, ships, sailing, for sale