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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. 99
View from Rocky Neck in Gloucester Harbor
1850s Graphite on paper (3 sheets) 9 1/4 x 31 3/4 in. (23.5 x 80.6 cm) Inscribed lower center (in pencil): View from Rocky Neck in Gloucester Harbor / F.H. Lane / del.
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Supplementary Images
Viewpoint map for Inv. 99
Photo: © U.S. Coast Survey, NOAA Historic Collection
Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)
the Artist, Gloucester, Mass.
Joseph L. Stevens, Jr., Gloucester, Mass.
Samuel H. Mansfield, Gloucester, Mass.
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., 1927
Marks & Labels
Marks: Inscribed upper left (in red ink): 81 [numbering system used by curator A. M. Brooks upon Samuel H. Mansfield's donation of the drawings to the Cape Ann Museum]
Exhibition History
No known exhibitions.Published References
Paintings and Drawings by Fitz Hugh Lane. Gloucester, MA: Cape Ann Historical Association, 1974., fig. 2.
Commentary
From the middle point of Rocky Neck’s western shore, Lane sketched a view of Gloucester’s Outer Harbor, taking in its western shore from the Cut (junction with the Annisquam River) to Norman’s Woe Rock. The direction of view is slightly south of due west, with the right (northern) half dominated by Stage Fort and Western Harbor to the Cut. The left (southern) half includes Fresh Water Cove and Mussel Point to Norman’s Woe Rock, with West Gloucester’s southern end looming over Ten Pound Island.
No painting based on this sketch has so far come to light. Its similarity in drawing style and detail to View from Rocky Neck, Gloucester, 1850s (inv. 137) suggests that both drawings were made within a short time frame. This further suggests a potential client like Horatio G. Sanford, who purchased a painting derived from the latter drawing. Whatever the circumstances, it is evident that Lane made an effort to depict the lithology of Rocky Neck that was prodigious, even by his standards.
–Erik Ronnberg