Lots of people ask me how we came up with that name. Well, in fact, we didn't. It was actually the previous owner who renamed the boat into "Constance", and there is even a little story behind it. We found it quite charming (plus the lettering on the stern is just too nice), so we kept the name. The name comes from a painting that is on exhibit in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It shows a lonely woman with her baby inside a small boat. The painting is from a late 19th century artist, Albert Pinkham Ryder, who was fascinated with a couple of ancient tales from Mid England and painted a series of pictures based on those. "Constance" is based on "The Man Of Law's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer (around 1387). See also here.
"Constance, daughter of the Emperor of Rome, and her infant son were treacherously abandoned at sea in a boat without rudder or sail. They miraculously were kept alive for five years until their boat drifted back to Rome. Ryder may have considered the story a counterpart to the Old Testament story of Jonah and the whale, a painting of which he had completed before he began "Constance." The tale from Chaucer may also have served as a literary link between his biblical and Shakespearian subjects."
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| Constance, Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1896 |
So, it's basically a story of survival, ultimate endurance and finally, revenge and glorious return. The picture itself is very dark and haunting, with the woman lost and forlorn with her baby cradled in her arms, in the small boat being tossed about by the grey seas. So that's it.
