Charles J Lundgren (New York, Connecticut, 1911 - 1988) "Ark and Dove" Signed lower right. Original First Day Cover Oil Painting on Masonite. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was published on the Fleetwood First Day of Issue Postal Card for the U.S. 13c Founding of Maryland issued March 25, 1984. With dreams of a better way of life in the New World, 140-odd brave and hopeful settlers, adventurers and businessmen assembled on the docks of Cowes, England on a fall morning in 1633. Carrying everything they owned, the would-be colonists waited to board the small sailing vessels that would carry them across the Atlantic. The sturdy square-rigged ship Ark of London was to carry all but a few of the settlers ... and a small pinnace named Dove was laden with their supplies. On November 22, 1633, the Ark and Dove set sail for the shores of the New World. Braving the dangers of fierce storms and the threat of pirates, the two tiny ships crossed the vast emptiness of the Atlantic Ocean to the tropical isles of the Caribbean. From there, the ships and crew sailed northward until they reached the waters of the Chesapeake Bay -- arriving over three months after their departure from England. Soon after the settlers landed, the young leader of the expedition -- Leonard Calvert -- bartered with the Yaocomico Indians for a village and farmlands near the mouth of the Potomac River. It was on this site that the colonists founded "St. Maries City" in the new colony named after the Virgin Mary -- Maryland. Image Size: 21 x 18 in. Overall Size: 26 x 24 in. Unframed. (B08620)