signed lower right: "J.E. Buttersworth"
oil on canvas
22-1/4 x 34-1/8 in. (56.5 x 86.6 cm.)

The yachts Cornelia and Magic, as identified by their private signals, met several times during the 1874 yachting season. Cornelia, on the right and on starboard tack, was owned by Dr. J.H. Vondy, a former commodore of the Jersey City Yacht Club and member of New York Yacht Club. Cornelia was built in 1873 by J. McGarrick, and had a length overall of 65 feet 8 inches. Magic, to the left and on port tack, was built in 1857, and was the winner of the 1870 America's Cup, was owned by William T. Garner of the Brooklyn Yacht Club and soon to be Vice-Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. Both yachts were the smaller, centerboard schooners and this would be the last year their respective owners would campaign them. They were entered in the New York Yacht Club Regatta on June 12th, The Ladies' Regatta of the New York Yacht Club on June 26th and the Annual Regatta of the Brooklyn Yacht Club, July 15th.

The descriptions of these regattas in newspaper accounts gives little insight to the competition between these two yachts but buoy 8-1/2, recognizable in many of Buttersworth's works, makes for a dramatic point of reference. As best can be told, the race that most closely resembles the painting is the New York Yacht Club Regatta, where Magic won her class with Cornelia in third.
During the course of the race from the light ship to Southwest Spit, the breeze was blowing fresh and with Magic leading by some distance. In the end Magic won over Cornelia in all of these contests.