James Bard
James Bard was a self-taught marine artist of the 19th century. He is known for his paintings of watercraft, particularly of steamboats. His works are sometimes characterized as naïve art — you can see a clear resemblance with the works of Henri Rousseau. Although Bard died poor and almost forgotten, his works have since become valuable.
Bard painted at least 3,000 vessels, including probably every steamer built in New York during his active life as an artist. Bard's works included common features intended to please patrons. Bard went to great lengths to get the details of the vessel correctly, including personally measuring the vessel in question. Preliminary drawings exist for some vessels. It was customary at that time for marine artists to paint multiple works of a single vessel, which could be different as to the background and other details, depending on orders from patrons. Bard followed this practice, often painting the same vessel multiple times. Bard's idealized images, obscured the danger of travel in steamboats, which sometimes burned and sank when their overheated boilers exploded.
In 1825 the Erie Canal, which connected the Hudson River city of Albany with Buffalo on Lake Erie was opened. It greatly expanded commercial trade with New York City. The Syracuse was owned by the Schuyler Steam Towboat Company, founded in 1825 by Samuel Schuyler—an African-American "free man of color" who bore the name of one of New York's oldest Dutch colonial families.