James E. Buttersworth
Illustration — San Salvadore (c. 1869–1886) in the collection at The Mariners' Museum. James Edward Buttersworth (1817–1894) was an English painter who specialized in maritime art and is considered among the foremost ship portraitists in the United States of the nineteenth century.
Also recorded as James Edward Buttersworth · J.E. Buttersworth · Buttersworth
James E. Buttersworth

James E. Buttersworth · Public domain
- Born
- James E. Buttersworth was born in 1817. · London.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- painter
- Fields
- marine
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Documentary summary
Illustration — San Salvadore (c. 1869–1886) in the collection at The Mariners' Museum. James Edward Buttersworth (1817–1894) was an English painter who specialized in maritime art and is considered among the foremost ship portraitists in the United States of the nineteenth century.
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Born In · outgoing
London
Place
Pencil sketch by George Henry Harlow, 1814, http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?mkey=mw05495

Died In · outgoing
London
Place
Pencil sketch by George Henry Harlow, 1814, http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?mkey=mw05495
Has Genre · outgoing
marine art
Term
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q257895 · wikipedia · James E. Buttersworth
In this article
Early life and education
Early life and education
His paintings are particularly known for their meticulous detail, dramatic settings, and grace in movement.
Subjects and genres recorded for the work are marine. Work by James E. Buttersworth is recorded in the collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Australian National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich, Yale University Art Gallery and Dallas Museum of Art.
Buttersworth was born in London, England in 1817 to a family of maritime artists. He studied painting with his father Thomas Buttersworth Jr., who was also noted for the genre.
Career
Career
He moved to the United States around 1845 and settled in West Hoboken, New Jersey (now Union City, New Jersey), and also maintained a Brooklyn studio in 1854. He returned to England in 1851 for the Race for the Hundred Pound Cup that took place on 22 August 1851. His sketches and paintings of that yachting competition provide the definitive record of events in that benchmark season of sailing. Buttersworth's paintings of the 1893 Vigilant v. Valkyrie II Cup match were done one year before his death, completing the chronicling of America's Cup races by oil painting just before the advent of successful photographic imagery. He was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1999. About 600 of his pieces survive today, which are found in private collections and museums all over the United States, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Virginia, and have also been featured on the television series Antiques Roadshow.
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — Magic and Gracie off Castle Garden (c. 1871), in the collection at The Mariners' Museum • Illustration — Steamboat Escort off the battery (1863) in the collection at The Mariners' Museum • Illustration — Frigate off Dover (c. 1840) in the collection at The Mariners' Museum • Illustration — Clipper Ship Great Republic (c. 1853) Old State House Museum, Boston, MA • Illustration — RMS Hibernia (c. 1850s) • Illustration — American Steam-Sail Yacht EMILY at Sea with Four Schooners Off Bow (c. 1878) • Illustration — Clipper Ship at Cape Horn • Illustration — First Rater and Other Shipping off the Spanish Coast • Illustration — Great Republic (c. 1850s) Old State House Museum, Boston, MA • Illustration — United States • Illustration — The clipper ship Ocean Telegraph (1858) South Street Seaport Museum • Illustration — The Steam and Sail Ship • Illustration — American Steam-sail ship ' American Steam-sail ship, passing an American full rigged ship at sea • Illustration — Screw Steam Yacht, Emily (c. 1869-75), Washington County Museum of Fine Arts

James E. Buttersworth, Buttersworth James E Ship In A Storm
James E. Buttersworth
James E. Buttersworth, 'Clipper Ship Great Republic' by James Butterworth, c. 1853 - Old State House Museum, Boston, MA - IMG 6709
James E. Buttersworth · Self-photographed, 26 April 2010
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1817
James E. Buttersworth was born on 1 January 1817.
1894
James E. Buttersworth died on 1 January 1894.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
James E. Buttersworth was born at London.
Birthplace
James E. Buttersworth died at London.
Deathplace
London.
Birth place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “James E. Buttersworth”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q257895: James E. Buttersworth
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.James E. Butterworth at butlerart.com
- 2.Halasz, Piri. "Art: Maritime Theme at Exhibitions; Appeal of Nostalgia History and Humor Portraits of Vessels", The New York Times, January 21, 1973. "James Butterworth (1817-1894), whose work is on view in Trenton, was an Englishman born on the Isle of Wight. By the time he emigrated and settled in West Hoboken (now Union City), America was in the heyday of its gallant clipper ships."
- 3.The Union City Reporter; January 2006
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
Further particulars
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The identifiers under which James E. Buttersworth may be traced in institutional catalogues.
Buttersworth is recorded as a citizen of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Buttersworth is recorded with the occupation painter. Buttersworth is classed in the genre marine art.
Recognition and collections
Work by James E. Buttersworth is
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Australian National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich and Yale University Art Gallery
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
19,261 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- James CudjoeArtist
- James DeWoodyArtist
- James Dickson InnesArtist
- James Doyle PenroseArtist
- James Everett StuartArtist
- James FairmanArtist
- James FlettArtist
- James George PhilpArtist
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