Signed original watercolor of the port side view of the schooner 'J. Truman.' Russell takes very delicate care of the treatment of sails and rigging-- his primary interest and skill. In contrast to the technical accurate rendering of the ship, the people on board are hastily filled in as indistinguishable characters. In the distance are other schooners and sloops against the background of a white church and hill.
"American schooner, centerboard, owned in New Bedford, J. E. Gibbs, master. She was built in 1847 at Greenport, Long Island, and was probably used in the coasting trade."
See Allan Forbes, Whale Ships and Whaling Scenes as Portrayed by Benjamin Russell. Presenting Reproductions in Color of the Paintings of the Foremost Artist in That Field (Boston: Printed for the Second Bank-State Street Trust Co, 1955), 58.
