When James B. Hand, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, sailed in as a helmsman on Charles Kiefer's maxi-yacht Nirvana in the recent Newport-Bermuda Race, he had no idea the trip would turn into a voyage of discovery.

Now he believes he has made an important reattribution of an unrecorded Bermuda painting by the American Colonial painter Robert Feke.

A walk around Hamilton during his stay led him, by chance, to the National Library and subsequently the Bermuda Historical Society Museum.

Peering through the glass, he saw some older portraits inside, and immediately thought, ‘I wonder if there are any Fekes here?'

“I am an American art dealer and have appraised several Fekes over my career, including some given by the Vanderbilt heirs to the Newport Historical Society. It had, however, been years since I had had much to do with Feke, one of the best and rarest of American Colonial portraitists (only 60-odd known works, dating 1738-1751), so I was a bit surprised to have had that thought right then, although I remembered that Feke was thought to have come to Bermuda at the end of his American career before disappearing completely,” Mr. Hand said.

Once inside, he asked curator Colin Benbow if there were any Feke paintings, and was duly directed to the adjoining room, where he was shown a portrait of a woman. It puzzled the visitor.

“I approached and saw the Feke attribution on the label, yet I was quite sure that this painting had little in common with any Feke I had ever seen,” the art dealer said. “I was disappointed, but as I continued around the room, on an adjacent wall there was a large portrait of the Reverend Moore. I thought ‘Holy cow, here is a Feke!' “

Closer inspection seemed to confirm his suspicions.

“While certain areas, including the right hand over the heart, were clearly overpainted, I felt there was no mistaking that the head, hair and book in the left hand were the work of Robert Feke,” Mr. Hand said. “Excitedly, I looked down at the label. It said, ‘Joseph Blackburn,' and I asked Mr. Benbow why this was so. He replied, ‘It is signed and dated.” Sure enough, a second look confirmed the Blackburn signature in the lower left corner plus the date 1753.

“In my training I have learned that many a painting has an incorrect signature, and I felt confident that time would lead to an understanding as to how this painting had a signature by Blackburn, a talented young painter whose Bermuda stay may have coincided with Feke's,” Mr. Hand related. “Blackburn went on to a successful career in Boston himself, very possibly at Feke's urging.”

A subsequent trip to St. George's to view the Blackburn paintings at Tucker House only served to reinforce the American's opinion that the portrait of Reverend Moore was by Feke, and he duly conveyed his thoughts to Mr. Benbow, as well as to Mr. David Mitchell, curator of the Bermuda National Gallery. Later, Mr. Mitchell accompanied Mr. Hand to the Historical Society Museum to see the Moore portrait for himself.

Now the art dealer is optimistic that further research may lead to the confirmation of a new Bermuda painting by the American Colonial painter, whom he says ranks only second to John Singleton Copley in importance.

Mr. Hand can be contacted at 36 Rocky Neck Avenue, Gloucester, MA 01930, ( 978-283-9100, or e-mail jamesb.hand@verizon.net