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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. 184
Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert
1852 Graphite on paper (2 sheets) 10 1/2 x 31 3/4 in. (26.7 x 80.6 cm) Inscribed across bottom (in pencil): Southwest Harbor, Mt. Desert. Aug. 1852 / Taken from Sloop Superior at anch[or ...] / by F.H. Lane; Inscribed lower center (in pencil): Lane / Witherle / Tilden / Stevens / Adams
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Related Work in the Catalog
Supplementary Images
Viewpoint chart
Photo: © Erik Ronnberg/U.S. Coast Survey
Viewpoint chart (detail)
Photo: © Erik Ronnberg/U.S. Coast Survey
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
Exhibition History
No known exhibitions.Published References
Paintings and Drawings by Fitz Hugh Lane. Gloucester, MA: Cape Ann Historical Association, 1974., fig. 118.
Wilson Museum. "A Cruise with Fitz Hugh Lane." Wilson Museum Bulletin vol. 2 no.2 (Winter 1974-75). ⇒ includes 
text
text
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; in association with Harry N. Abrams, 1988., fig. 20, ill. in b/w, p. 142.
Wilmerding, John. "Fitz Hugh Lane." The Artist's Mount Desert: American Painters on the Maine Coast. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 45–67., fig. 48, p.55. ⇒ includes text
text
Kelly, Franklin. American Masters from Bingham to Eakins: The John Wilmerding Collection. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; in association with Lund Humphries, 2004., fig. 3, p. 118.
American Masters from Bingham to Eakins: The John Wilmerding Collection. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2004., fig. 3, p. 118.
Commentary
On Friday, August 20, 1852, as part of multi-day excursion in Maine by Lane and his friend Joseph Stevens, Jr., sloop “Superior” and crew left Bar Island and sailed south to explore islands and harbors surrounding the entrance to Somes Sound. The whole day was spent in this activity, but no Lane drawings of the places visited have come to light – except two views of Southwest Harbor which were made the following morning, Saturday, August 21. They are presumably this drawing, made on board the “Superior”, and West Harbor and Entrance to Somes Sound, 1852 (inv. 179), made from the shore at the southern entrance to Southwest Harbor. Which was made first was not recorded.
Both drawings have similar angles of view, but this drawing’s viewing point is closer to, and more focused on, the harbor’s north shore, while excluding Greening’s Island to the east. Beyond, on the sound’s western side are Flying, Dog, and Robinson’s Islands with Carter’s Nubble at far left; on the eastern side is Brown’s Mountain.
An oil painting Off Mount Desert Island, Maine, 1850–60 (inv. 263) based on this drawing follows closely the angle of view and details of the topography, buildings, and vegetation. Unlike his urban harbor views, Lane limited the sizes and numbers of vessels in this scene, giving the composition over to earth, sea, and sky, with a lone half-brig adding a accent mark to nature’s harmony.
—Erik Ronnberg.