Contact Peter Williams Museum Services

Although most of our work throughout the past 30 years has been cleaning and restoring paintings for art dealers, private collectors, and museums, we also have considerable experience in the cleaning and restoration of murals, picture frames and wooden objects which require the highest level of skill and expertise. We are able to provide condition surveys of museum collections for a reasonable fee and encourage inquiries from museums with maritime related collections. We have researched, appraised and restored collections of marine art from such prominent collections as the Allen Forbes Collection which is owned by State Street Corporation in Boston. Local clients for whom we have done conservation work include the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, The Harvard Club of Boston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the City of Boston (Fanueil Hall) and the City of Newport in Rhode Island.

Maritime Art Restoration

MARINE PAINTING FEATURED ON THE ANTIQUES ROAD SHOW

When this painting was featured on the popular Antiques Road Show program on WGBH public television it was thought by the appraisers to have been executed by James Buttersworth, the accomplished 19th century painter of dramatic yachting scenes. It was appraised on the show for one of the highest prices of any painting that had been seen on the show prior to that time.

My reaction after seeing the painting on the screen was that it could not have been painted by James Buttersworth since the water had all the stylistic qualities of an Antonio Jacobson. After the painting was seen on national TV it was the possibly the most famous marine painting in America and was later put up for auction in Boston without an attribution. The unsigned painting brought a Buttersworth price and later the buyer asked us to restore the painting. You can see the results above.

I understand from the owner that this painting might be included in an upcoming exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts which will allow visitors to the museum to examine the evidence for themselves and determine who painted this picture, Buttersworth, Jacobson, or someone else.

WILLIAM P. STUBBS SCHOONER FREDONIA UNDER SHORTENED SAIL

Throughout my professional career, I have enjoyed restoring scores of paintings by the New England marine artist W.P. Stubbs. Although Stubbs was not a sophisticated, highly trained marine painter, his invaluable legacy was to document hundreds of local fishing schooners, lumber, stone and coal carriers and local pilot schooners, all of which have since disappeared from sight. His ship portraits are now regarded as an important part of our American cultural patrimony.

SHIP NAPIER CAUGHT ON A LEE SHORE IN THE IRISH SEA 1839
painted by Samuel Walters 1811-1882

In 1839 the ship Napier, Captain Sanford, of Baltimore Maryland was caught in a terrifying gale in the Irish Sea. Most of her sails, including her vital topsails, were blown out leaving her with practically no hope of steerage past a coastline strewn with dangerous rocks. As the wind pressed the ship steadily towards the rocks, Captain Sanford used all of his skill and courage to save his ship. The crew prayed for God's mercy, bravely continued to work the ship, and hoped for a miracle. After hours of fighting for their lives in bitter cold, Captain Sanford, his crew and the sturdy Napier made landfall in a protected harbor, having survived the ordeal. (This account is taken from the still existing log book of the Napier written in the hand of Captain Sanford, and the painting and log are still owned by the descendants of the Captain.) The insurance underwriters for the ship were so grateful to Captain Sanford for saving the ship that they commissioned this painting and presented it to him.