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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. 59
A Storm Breaking Away, Vessel Slipping Her Cable
1858 Oil on canvas 24 x 36 1/4 in. (61 x 92.1 cm) Signed and dated lower right: F.H. Lane 1858
Private collection
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Related Work in the Catalog
Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)
J.S. Earle, 1858
Private collection, 1976
Spanierman Gallery, New York
Private collection, 2000
Christie's, New York, May 19, 2005, Sale 1520 Lot 101
Quester Gallery, Greenwich, Connecticut
Private collection, 2005
Christie's, New York, 22 May 2014, Sale 2851 Lot 101
Private collection
Marks & Labels
Labels: (verso): [Pennsy]lvania Academy of t[he Fine A]rts / No. entered April 185[illeg.] / A Storm (break . . . Slipping her cable . . . / F.H. Lane / Depositor: J.S. Earle
Exhibition History
The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Thirty-Fifth Annual Exhibition of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, April, 1858., no. 317.
Frank S. Schwartz & Son, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, American Painting, November, 1989., no. 1.
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, [on extended loan], 1991–97.
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Proud Possessions: A Community Collects, May 29–July 19, 1992.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, New York, A Century of American Art: 1850-1950, Paintings, Sculpture and Works on Paper, October 7–30, 2004.
Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts, The Mysteries of Fitz Henry Lane, July 7–September 16, 2007.
Traveled to: Spanierman Gallery, New York, N.Y., 4–1, 2007.
Traveled to: Spanierman Gallery, New York, N.Y., 4–1, 2007.
Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York, New York, Refuge and Remembrance: Landscape Painting in the Civil War Era, May 16–June 22, 2013.
Published References
American Painting. Philadelphia: Frank S. Schwartz & Son, 1989., no. 1, ill., cover.
Moses, Michael A. "Mary B. Mellen and Fitz Hugh Lane." Antiques Magazine Vol. CXL, No. 5 (November 1991)., pl. XVIII, p. 836, text, p. 829. ⇒ includes 
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Ronnberg, Erik A.R., Jr. "Fitz Hugh Lane: A Storm, Breaking Away, Vessel Slipping Her Cable, 1858." In Twelve American Masterpieces. New York, NY: Spanierman Gallery, 1998.
Spanierman Gallery, LLC. Twelve American Masterpieces. New York., pp. 20-24, no. 2, ill.
Christie's, New York. Important American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture. (May 19, 2005, sale XXXX).
Wilmerding, John. "Fitz Henry Lane & Mary Blood Mellen." American Art Review 19, no. 4 (2007)., pp. 169, 175.
Wilmerding, John. Fitz Henry Lane & Mary Blood Mellen: Old Mysteries and New Discoveries. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2007., fig. 44, p. 82. ⇒ includes text
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Commentary
Four years after painting A Rough Sea, 1854 (inv. 12), Lane revisited its theme of a ship anchored off a lee shore under adverse winds and tidal current. In this view, he portrayed a sequel and improving – but still dangerous – situation. Here the wind has shifted to an easterly direction (toward the rising sun) and tidal currents have begun to flow the same way, causing the ship to swing, stern to the sun. This requires careful tending of the anchor cable, keeping it taut while the ship is swinging, and finally slipping it (letting it go) with a marker buoy for future salvage.
This process is described in more detail by the essay in the section “Additional Material” below. Some details aloft are worth noting. The “housed” topgallant/royal masts in A Rough Sea, 1854 (inv. 12) have here been raised to their working heights. The associated standing rigging (stays and backstays) has been adjusted and set up taut, but square sails and yards will not be sent aloft until the ship is clear of danger and winds have subsided to warrant more sail. Present here, but not seen in the earlier painting are spreaders at the topgallant crosstrees for the topgallant and royal backstays. In depicting this detail, Lane unconsciously added an improvement to ships’ rigging that was widely adopted in the intervening years.
The logical “next scene” (if this painting and A Rough Sea, 1854 (inv. 12) were part of a series) would show the ship with two jibs set and drawing, her topsails unfurled and being set, and the anchor cable let go. While backing, the bow would swing counterclockwise to face the sun, the topsails would be sheeted in, and the ship would start heading eastward - just clearing the rock - into open ocean. Whether Lane planned (or actually painted) any sequel views is not known. Having already painted the two critical stages in this struggle to survive, he may well have decided that they were enough.
—Erik Ronnberg