Antonio Nicolo Gasparo Jacobsen

1850-1921

Danish/American (Hoboken, New Jersey)

Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1850. Because his father was a violin-maker, he was trained as a musician, but his true love was ships and the sea. He spent much of his time sketching by the waterfront. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1871, Jacobsen had no desire to be conscripted into the Danish army and came to the United States instead. With his sketching ability he quickly landed a job painting decorative scenes on the doors of iron safes. An executive of the Old Dominion Steamship Company was so impressed with his work, he asked him to paint pictures of some of the company's ships. This launched Jacobsen on his lifetime career.

Over the years he painted every type of vessel: small and large, tugboats to racing sloops. During the course of his career it is estimated that Jacobsen painted between 5,000 to 6,000 paintings, almost exclusively portraits of ships. At one time during the late 19th century, he was, in fact, commissioned on a daily basis by ship owners and captains to paint their vessels for posterity. Nearly every ship that sailed in and out of New York Harbor between 1873 and 1919 was chronicled by Jacobsen.

Artist profile image: Antonio Jacobsen, ca. 1890-1900. The Mariners Museum.