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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
inv. 239
St. Johns, Porto Rico
San Juan, Porto Rico; St, John's, Porto Rico; St. John's Porte Rico
c. 1850 Oil on canvas 23 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (60.3 x 92.1 cm) No inscription found
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Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)
The Old Print Shop, New York, 1947?
The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Va., 1947
Exhibition History
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition, March 20–April 17, 1966., no. 21.
Traveled to: Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine, 30–6, 1966.
Traveled to: Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine, 30–6, 1966.
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Art of the Sea, June 18–September 15, 1975.
Published References
McCormick, Gene E. "Fitz Hugh Lane, Gloucester Artist, 1804–1865." Art Quarterly 15, no. 4 (Winter 1952)., p. 294. ⇒ includes
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Wilmderding, John. "The Lithographs of Fitz Hugh Lane." Old-Time New England LIV, no. 2 (October–December 1963)., p. 37.
Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865: American Marine Painter. Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1964., fig. 3.
The American Neptune, Pictorial Supplement VII: A Selection of Marine Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865. Salem, MA: The American Neptune, 1965., plate XVI, no. 86. ⇒ includes
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Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition. Lincoln, MA: De Cordova Museum; in association with Colby College Art Museum, 1966., no. 21. ⇒ includes
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Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane. New York: Praeger, 1971., p. 32.
Wilmerding, John. Fitz Henry Lane. Gloucester, MA: Cape Ann Historical Association, 2005. Reprint of Fitz Hugh Lane, by John Wilmerding. New York: Praeger, 1971. Includes new information regarding the artist's name., ill. 32, text, p. 42, St, John's, Porto Rico.
Craig, James. Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth-Century America. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2006., fig. 49.
Craig, James. "Fitz Henry Lane: An Affinity for the Sea." Fine Art Connoisseur: The Premier Magazine for Important Collectors 3, Issue 4 (August 2006)., ill., p. 30, text p. 29, San Juan, Porto Rico.
Slifkin, Robert. "Fitz Henry Lane and the Compromised Landscape, 1848–1865." American Art 27, no. 3 (Fall 2013). View on Stable URL: www.jstor.org », fig. 4, p. 71, text, p. 70. ⇒ includes
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Commentary
Mid-nineteenth century Porto Rico (as then spelled) was a rich source of sugar and its derivative products for North America and Europe. Cane sugar, molasses, and rum made up the bulk of cargos loaded by American merchant vessels. Those vessels, particularly from New England ports, brought to the island huge quantities of dried codfish for the sugar plantations to feed their slaves. This trade was the foundation of Sidney Mason’s wealth and civic prominence in his native Gloucester and led to his post as American Consul in Puerto Rico from 1829 to 1835. It led as well to marriage and business, and a second home in New York City. (Refs. 1–3)
In 1850, Lane traveled to New York where he drew and painted views of the harbor and vessel activity, two of which were possibly painted for Mason, who may also have engaged him to paint a view of San Juan at that time. Travel to the West Indies by steamship from New York would have been the most expeditious means to get there, and a stop at Baltimore (either outbound or returning) would have made the voyage all the more productive. The discovery by Melissa Trafton, of a print by Augustus de Vaudricourt with a nearly identical composition, also has introduced the possiblity that Lane did not make the trip, but was copying the lithograph.
Lane’s view of San Juan exhibits his usual deft eye for detail in buildings as well a ships. There are three – possibly more – examples of Bermuda-rigged sloops in this scene – a variant of the sloop rig unseen in New England until the twentieth century. The presence of a French frigate reflects that nation’s interests in the Caribbean – an area of major importance to several European nations. (Ref. 4)
The foreground may reflect the interests of many nations in Caribbean forest products, but not (in this period) those of Puerto Rico. Long described as two boats salvaging mahogany logs cut from that island’s forests, this activity must be reconsidered. Contemporary reports indicate that there was no logging of mahogany in Puerto Rico for export, though it may have been imported for ornamental trees or as finished furniture. If mahogany was once native to the island, it was either logged out or was to be found in forests inaccessible due to surrounding marshlands and an absence of canals to transport the timber. (Refs. 5, 6, 7)
In any case, the logs depicted are too small for marketable mahogany, the trees most suitable for harvest being 100 feet and more in height and upwards of 40 feet in girth above the roots. More likely, the logs depicted are mast timber – probably pine or spruce from North America – which were part of a ship’s deck load, got loose in a storm, and went adrift. That they are floating so high in the water rules out any of the dense tropical hardwoods used for wharf timbers and other woodwork requiring resistance to rot and wear. (Refs. 8, 9)
–Erik Ronnberg
References:
1. Edmund Flagg, Superintendent, “Report on the Commercial Relations of the United States with all Foreign Nations,” Vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Cornelius Wendell, Printer, 1856), pp. 207–216.
2. “Commerce and Navigation. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 1850” (Washington, DC: Gideon and Co., Printers, 1851), pp. 124, 125 (fish), 218, 219 (distilled spirits), 220, 221 (molasses), 226, 227 (sugar).
3. Stephanie Buck, “Mason, Sidney” (2015). See Historical Materials: People.
4. L. R. Hamersly & Co., “A Naval Encyclopaedia” (Philadelphia, 1884. Reprint: Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1971), p. 504, under “‘Mudian.”
5. The salvaging of the “mahogany logs” comes from a file at the Frick Art Reference Library which was cited by John Wilmerding in “Fitz Hugh Lane” (1971). (Reprinted with revised title “Fitz Henry Lane”: Cape Ann Museum, 2005), pp. 42, 43, and note 7.
6. “Commerce and Navigation…1850,” pp. 204, 205 (wood, unmanufactured).
7. Edmund Flagg, Superintendent, “Report of the Commercial Relations of the United States with All Foreign Nations,” Vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Cornelius Wendell, Printer, 1856), pp. 207–209.
8. Herbert I. Edlin, “What Wood is That?” (New York, NY: The Viking Press, Inc., 1969), pp. 129–131 and wood sample No. 22.
9. George N. Lamb, “How to Identify Genuine Mahogany and Avoid Substitutes” (Chicago, IL: The Mahogany Association, Inc., 1940), pp. 2–4, 17.