The ' Mary' of Boston Returning to Port 1857

William Bradford's "The 'Mary' of Boston Returning to Port" is a 19th-century maritime scene rendered in oil on canvas. Notice the materiality of the paint itself: smooth in some areas to create a sense of atmosphere, and more textured in others, like the waves, suggesting the constant motion of the sea. Bradford, active during the rise of industrial capitalism, here depicts sailing ships which were being replaced by steam-powered vessels. Yet even these sailing ships depended upon the availability of timber, canvas, and metal hardware, all products of extraction and manufacturing. We might also consider the labor needed to build, maintain, and sail these vessels, along with the social and economic systems necessary to keep ships like the 'Mary' afloat. Paying attention to the material and social context of this work helps us understand it not just as a pretty picture, but as a document of a specific moment in time.