Lot 139: Charles Gregory (British, 1810-1896) The Royal Yacht Squadron's Viking at anchor off Cowes; The Royal Yacht Squadron's Viking off the Needles, a pair (2)

Charles Gregory (British, 1810-1896)
The Royal Yacht Squadron's Viking at anchor off Cowes; The Royal Yacht Squadron's Viking off the Needles, a pair oil on canvas61 x 91.5cm (24 x 36in).(2)

Provenance: Anon. sale, Bonhams, London, 15 August 1985, lot 136.With Richard Green, London, no. AC 162.Viking was a fine two-masted schooner designed and built for Major (later Colonel Sir) A.C. Sterling by Camper & Nicholson at Cowes in 1853. Originally measured at 110 tons (subsequently increased as new gear was installed), she was 99 feet in length with a 23 foot beam and, upon completion, was widely admired as a particularly handsome vessel. Sterling kept her for ten years before selling her to Mr Inglis Jones at the end of the 1863 season but her new owner only raced her for two seasons and she was once again put up for sale towards the end of 1865.At about the same time it became known in yachting circles that Queen Victoria's second son, Admiral of the Fleet H.R.H. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and also Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was seeking to emulate his elder brother (the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII) by taking up yachting. Elected to the RYS early in 1866 and having "very deliberately declined the gift" of the splendid schooner Henrietta, belonging to James Gordon Bennett, the flamboyant American publisher and owner of the influential newspaper the New York Herald, Prince Alfred decided to purchase Viking for his own use. Apparently very pleased with her, he kept her until 1872 but did not replace her when she was laid up at the end of that year's season although he maintained his membership of the RYS until his premature death in 1900. Although they are sadly undated, it is very tempting to speculate that this pair of pictures was commissioned by Prince Alfred himself as a fond memento of his ownership of Viking, a suggestion supported by the facts that (i) the crew are depicted wearing apparently naval dress and Prince Alfred was a career naval officer; and (ii) the inclusion of an obviously naval frigate approaching Viking in the painting where she is shown at anchor.