Note 1) The following Stobart biographical materials are taken from the Askart.com website:

"A marine painter of harbor scenes and ship portraits, John Stobart has devoted his career to showing the majestic beauty of sailing ships from a previous era. He also does some plein-air painting.

He was born in 1929 in Leicester, England and studied at the Derby College of art and at the Royal Academy School in London in the 1950's and then traveled by passenger-cargo vessel to his father's home in south Africa. This voyage sparked his interest in maritime subjects, something he pursued for more than fifty years.

In 1959, he moved to Canada where he earned a living by creating oil paintings of ships for shipping firms along the St. Lawrence River. Then in the mid 1960's, he shifted the focus of his career to historical paintings of sailing scenes. In 1965, Kennedy Galleries of Boston held his first solo exhibition, which brought him to the attention of New England collectors.

In 1988, his Stobart Foundation, funded from the profits of his publishing business for his prints, created fellowships to help art students ease the transition from student to professional fine artist. It also awards scholarships to students who excel in plein-air painting.

Of his entry, "Key Largo: 'Yankee' Entering the Harbor," in the 2000 Artists of America Exhibit in Denver, Colorado, he said: "It's a fabulous schooner. It looks absolutely magnificent under sail. Any sailboat does-it's a thing of great beauty" ("Southwest Art," 9/2000).

Source:
"Southwest Art "Tree's Place Gallery, booklet: "Artist Panelists from the 2004 Conference on Representational Painting”

Note 2) This print is of a very famous yacht race, “The Schooner Yacht America Off The Needles I.O.W. In The Royal Yacht Squadron Regatta 1851….” which is a premium subject for lovers of marine art and one of Stobart's specialties. It may be the finest Stobart ship racing print. This is also a very early Stobart print published by the prestigious Kennedy Galleries in 1965, which was issued in conjunction with his first solo exhibition, "which brought him to the attention of New England collectors," per the above biographical sketch of Stobart. This print has a certain extra cachet for some alumni of Princeton University, as it is signed by numerous members of the Princeton University Class of 1924. The presale estimate of $1,000-$1,500 is consistent with some of the prices obtained at auction for some other popular Stobart subjects, such as the following print of "South Street, New York in 1880," which was not published until 1975, by which time Stobart was producing a lot of prints. The foregoing considerations and the following Artprice.com record regarding Stobart print sales warrant the conclusion that the presale estimate of $1,000-$1,500 is reasonable and justifiable.

Title/Subject: South Street, New York in 1880 Signed, dated “1975” and inscribed “4/100. Colored lithograph. 23 in. x 33 ¼ in. sold for $1,350 on 1/17/2011 at Gray’s Auctioneers, Cleveland, OH