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Catalog entry

inv. 77
New England Inlet with Self-Portrait
New England Inlet (Annisquam) with Self Portrait
1848
Oil on canvas
17 3/4 x 25 7/8 in. (45.1 x 65.7 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: F H Lane 1848

Commentary

This painting is one of several works Lane made of the area known as "Done Fudging." Fudging referred to the poling of a vessel in the tidal river (where the thick mud is reminiscent of chocolate fudge), and Done Fudging was the point at which one was "done fudging." This version of the scene is unusual for the figure in the lower left, believed to be a rare self-portrait of Lane, and for the depiction of the train in the background. The Eastern Railroad branch line had just been extended to Gloucester in 1848, making the transport of goods and people to and from Boston rapid and inexpensive. The drawing Westward View from Cove near Done Fudging, 1861 (inv. 117) is very similar in composition, which suggests that it was a study after which Lane made the painting, although the drawing has traditionally been given a later date.

Related Work in the Catalog

Supplementary Images

Map showing Lane's viewpoint

Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)

Private collection
Kenneth A. Householder
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1992

Exhibition History

National Gallery of Art, Washington, District of Columbia, Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, May 15–September 5, 1988., no. 1, ill., p. 8.
Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., 5–31, 1988.

Published References

Graham, F. Lanier. Three Centuries of American Painting from the Collection of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. San Francisco, CA: M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1971., no. 141, ill., p. 82.
San Francisco Bay Area Biap Survey Art Inventories Catalog. Smithsonian American Art Museums, 1975.
Wilmerding, John. Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; in association with Harry N. Abrams, 1988., ill. in color, p. 8.
Keck, Michaela. Walking in the Wilderness: The Peripatetic Tradition in Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Painting. Heidelberg, Germany: Universitatsverlag Winter, 2006., fig. 33, p. 293.
Wilmerding, John. Fitz Henry Lane & Mary Blood Mellen: Old Mysteries and New Discoveries. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2007., fig. 2, p. 15, New England Inlet (Annisquam) with Self Portrait. ⇒ includes text
Rodgers, Josephine. "Fitz H. Lane's Enduring Legacy along the New England Coastline." Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (Yale University Art Gallery) (2022-2023)., p. 10. ⇒ includes text

Related historical materials

Gloucester Buildings & Businesses
Cape Ann Locales
Vessel Types
Fitz Henry Lane Biography
Citation: "New England Inlet with Self-Portrait, 1848 (inv. 77)." Fitz Henry Lane Online. Cape Ann Museum. http://fitzhenrylaneonline.org/catalog/entry.php?id=77 (accessed March 29, 2024).
Record last updated January 28, 2016. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
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