loading 
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. 307
Ships in Boston Harbor
late 1840s–early 1850s 11 1/4 x 18 1/4 in. (28.6 x 46.4 cm)
|
Commentary
This is a somewhat unusual ship painting for Lane as it’s quite small, 18"x11”, yet it has all the vigorous sea and air of a brisk blow in Boston Harbor. The distinctive silhouette of the Massachusetts Statehouse on Beacon Hill is centered on the horizon. The ship is a clipper, fairly typical though without the skysails of the largest and fastest clippers which could load on sail trying to cut days off their ocean crossing passages. The painting does not seem to be a commission for an owner or master as there is no name on the ship or pennant. In the foreground is a pilot boat but without an identifying number on the mainsail or signal pennant. Likely painted in the late 1840s or early 1850s, it’s a fresh and convincing view of a great ship under sail in Boston Harbor.