Off A Lee Shore
Clement Drew (attributed), American (Massachusetts), 19th century
Oil on Board, 9 x 12 inches, in a gilt frame, 13 ¾ x 17 inches

Off A Lee Shore evokes a sense of impending peril. A three-masted schooner navigating turbulent waters near a rocky coast. The sea is rendered with a sense of dynamism, with waves cresting below a dark, cloudy sky and crashing against dramatic steep cliffs.

Clement Drew (1806-1899) grew up in the coastal New England town of Kingston, Massachusetts. Influenced by living in a major port city, he settled into an early career as a marine painter. Marine activity would become a lifelong subject. His career spanned nearly fifty years and lead Drew to travel extensively from Maine to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. His paintings of these travels remain important documentation of early American seafaring.

Examples of Drew’s work are in the collections of The Butler Institute of American Art, the Peabody Essex Museum, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American Art, The Mariners’ Museum, Shelburne Museum, Oakland Museum of California, Penobscot Marine Museum, and the United States Naval Academy among others.

$2,600