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Fitz Henry Lane
HISTORICAL ARCHIVE • CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ • EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE
An online project under the direction of the CAPE ANN MUSEUM
An online project under the direction of the CAPE ANN MUSEUM
Catalog entry
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inv. 103
Gloucester Beach from the Cut
1850s Graphite on paper (2 sheets) 9 1/2 x 22 1/4 in. (24.1 x 56.5 cm) Inscribed lower center (in pencil): Gloucester Beach from the Cut / F.H. Lane del.
Inscribed verso (in pencil): S.H.M. [Samuel H. Mansfield] |
Related Work in the Catalog
Supplementary Images
Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)
the Artist, Gloucester, Mass.
Joseph L. Stevens, Jr., Gloucester, Mass.
Samuel H. Mansfield, Gloucester, Mass.
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., 1927
Marks & Labels
Marks: Inscribed upper left (in red ink): 89 [numbering system used by curator A. M. Brooks upon Samuel H. Mansfield's donation of the drawings to the Cape Ann Museum]
Exhibition History
No known exhibitions.Published References
Paintings and Drawings by Fitz Hugh Lane. Gloucester, MA: Cape Ann Historical Association, 1974., fig. 8.
Ronnberg, Erik A.R., Jr. "Views of Fort Point: Fitz Hugh Lane's Images of a Gloucester Landmark." Cape Ann Historical Association Newsletter 26, no. 2–4 (April, July, September 2004)., fig. 11. ⇒ includes 
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Commentary
Lane drew this scene from the west side of the Cut, where the Annisquam River enters Gloucester Harbor. Looking due east, he placed the Pavilion Hotel just to the north of center, with the ropewalk to the hotel’s left and the houses of Canal Street extending to the left margin. The right half shows Pavilion Beach leading out to Fort Point and its rocky southwestern extension jutting into the Western Harbor. There is great depth to this drawing, making the schooner at far right and the masts rising in Harbor Cove essential for the viewer to grasp the distances involved; yet for all this distance, Lane’s drawing is detailed and precise.
The narrow angle of view makes for the absence of many familiar buildings in Gloucester, the churches in particular. As seen in the viewpoint map, all churches with prominent steeples are outside the left margin – some barely so. The same happens at the right margin, leaving out Ten Pound Island and much of Rocky Neck, while giving unexpected prominence to Fort Point’s southwest end. The resulting visual effect is strikingly different from Lane’s other depictions of Gloucester’s Outer Harbor, which have much wider angles of view, resulting in the panoramic scenes to which we are so accustomed.
–Erik Ronnberg