The Golden State Entering New York Harbor
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A clipper ship under full sail moves through a busy New York harbor, her cream-white canvas catching the light against a sky of blue and soft gray cloud. An American flag flies from the stern. The water around her is green and choppy, flecked with whitecaps, and the harbor is full of traffic: a sloop under sail at the left, a small rowing boat in the foreground, and a dozen more vessels visible in the middle distance, their masts and rigging filling the horizon. The Golden State was a clipper built in 1852 in New York for the California trade, part of the Gold Rush fleet that raced around Cape Horn. Lane painted ship portraits throughout his career, working from drawings and builders' plans with the same precision he brought to his Gloucester harbor views. The rigging and hull are specific and correct, but what makes it a Lane painting is the light on the sails and the color of the water.