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. 269
View of Baltimore
Baltimore from Federal Hill; View of Baltimore from Federal Hill
1850 Oil on canvas 18 5/8 x 27 5/8 in. (47.3 x 70.2 cm) No inscription found
|
Related Work in the Catalog
Explore catalog entries by keywords view all keywords »
Other Locales:
Md.: Baltimore »
Historical Materials
Below is historical information related to the Lane work above. To see complete information on a subject on the Historical Materials page, click on the subject name (in bold and underlined).
[ 
top]
top]
Very little is known about Lane's connections to Baltimore, however, in 1850 he did make one lithograph and several paintings. Additionally, the Maryland Historical Society exhibition catalog for 1856 lists a drawing owned by a "Mr. Lucas."
Related tables: Baltimore, Md. – 1856 Maryland Historical Society »
[+]
Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)
Exhibition History
1966 DeCordova Museum:
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition, no. 29.
1969 Vermont Arts Council:
Vermont Arts Council, Montpelier, Vermont, Art Out of the Attic.
1984 University of Maryland:
University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, Maryland, 350 Years of Art and Architecture in Maryland.
1997 Maryland Historical Society:
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore, Inc.: From Mobtown to Charm City.
Published References
Wilmerding 1963:
"The Lithographs of Fitz Hugh Lane," p. 37.
Wilmerding 1964:
Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865: American Marine Painter, fig. 2, p. 43.
American Neptune 1965:
The American Neptune, Pictorial Supplement VII: A Selection of Marine Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865, pl. XVIII, no. 44. ⇒ includes 
text
text
Wilmerding 1966a:
Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition, no. 29. ⇒ includes text
text
Muller 1976:
Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum, no. 191.
University of Maryland 1984:
350 Years of Art and Architecture in Maryland.
Crossman 1985:
"Lithographs of Fitz Hugh Lane," p.82. ⇒ includes text
text
Cape Ann 1993:
Training the Eye and the Hand: Fitz Hugh Lane and 19th Century Drawing Books, p. 20, Baltimore from Federal Hill.
Wilmerding 2005:
Fitz Henry Lane, ill. 17, text, p. 29, View of Baltimore from Federal Hill.
Cape Ann Museum 2017:
Drawn from Nature & on Stone: the Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane, fig. 64. ⇒ includes text
text
Commentary
This painting was presumably taken from the lithograph by Lane View of Baltimore, from Federal Hill, 1850 (inv. 493). Lane drew this scene in 1849-50 from the grassy heights of Federal Hill, on the southeast side of Baltimore’s City Basin, looking north by west to the oldest part of the city. As is typical of Lane’s city views, there is an active foreground, in this case well-dressed citizens strolling on the heights. Of particular note is the intermingling of black and white citizens in what appears a harmonious Sunday gathering on equal footing, likely an unusual sight for Lane that he made a point to document. It is the only depiction of African Americans we know of by Lane except for a single dockworker in "Starlight" in Harbor, c.1855 (inv. 249).
In the painting Lane has lowered his vantage point from that of the lithograph and enlarged both the foreground activity and the buildings on the distant shore. He has also put a shadow across some of the foreground creating a stronger and more dramatic composition than the lithograph.
–Sam Holdsworth
[+] See More