Search this catalogue
 [?]
 [?]
 [?]
 [?]
print this page

Catalog entry

inv. 445
View of the Old Building at the corner of Ann St., Boston, Mass.
View of the Old Building at the Corner of Ann St, Boston; View of the Old Building at the Corner of Ann Street, Boston, Mass.
1835
Lithograph on paper
6 3/8 x 8 1/16 in. (16.2 x 20.5 cm)

Commentary

The building to the left in this 1835 hand-colored lithographic view of Boston was known as The Old Feather Shop, or sometimes The Old Cocked Hat. It was built in 1680, used for a variety of commercial purposes over the years, and razed in 1860. At the time Fitz Henry Lane sketched it, the building was home to John Simpson’s upholstery shop. To the right, across the cobble-stoned intersection is Faneuil Hall.

Although small in size, the complexity of this composition divulges Lane’s mastery of perspective while the subtly shifting tones of the image reveal his skill with the lithographic crayon. Pendleton’s workshop was a training ground for young artists like Lane during the 1830s, a time when few other opportunities for artistic advancement existed in the region.

[+] See More

 

Explore catalog entries by keywords view all keywords »

Subject Types:   Building Portrait »
Massachusetts Locales:   Boston / Boston Harbor »
Animals & People:   Children »   //   Dogs / Cats »   //   Livestock (horse / sheep / cow) »
Objects:   Barrel »   //   Wagon / Cart »
Building Types:   Commercial Building »

Historical Materials
Below is historical information related to the Lane work above. To see complete information on a subject on the Historical Materials page, click on the subject name (in bold and underlined).

[ top]
Boston Locales, Businesses, & Buildings: Old Feather Store

Old Feather Store was located at the corner of North (formerly Ann) Street and Dock Square; also see Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market.

artwork
Old Warehouse – Dock Square, Boston: Built 1680. Taken Down 1860.
Alfred K. Kipps
c.1860
Chromolithograph
L. Prang and Company, Printers
10 9/16 x 14 3/4 in.
Boston Athenaeum
Image: Boston Athenaeum
[+]
[ top]

Pendleton's was the first lithography shop in Boston and created some of the finest prints from the time period. The firm was founded by brothers, William S. and John Pendleton, in 1826 at Harvard Place. Prior to this firm, William Pendleton had founded the Senefelder Lithographic Company in 1825 with Abel Bowen. (The 1831 Gloucester map was printed by the Senefelder Lithographic Company, and perhaps provided an introduction for Lane to Pendleton.) In 1828, John left Boston to pursue various opportunities in Philadelphia and New York. In the absence of his brother, William built Pendleton's into a well-regarded lithographic shop until 1835 when he sold the shop to his bookkeeper, Thomas Moore. At Pendleton's, many prominent artists were taught, including John H. Bufford, Robert Cooke, Nathaniel Currier, and Lane. The artists at Pendleton's were responsible for producing a variety of materials including maps, plans, portraits, fashion plates, topographical views, music covers, advertisements, and historical prints.

Much of this information has been summarized from Boston Lithography 1825–1880 by Sally Pierce and Catharina Slautterback.

map
1831 Mason Map
John Mason
1831
Lithograph
28.5 x 21 in.
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive

When Massachusetts decreed that each town be mapped, John Mason drew the map of Cape Ann in 1830. This drawing was sent to the Senefelder Lithographic Company of Boston (owned by William Pendleton) to be printed, and then sold in Gloucester by W.E.P. Rogers, whose Gloucester Telegraph of February 12, 1831 announced, "A few specimen copies of the map, uncolored, have reached the town" and that they cost $1.25. Perhaps this business arrangement between Pendleton and Rogers provided Lane with his introduction to Pendleton.

[+]
publication
1865 Gloucester Telegraph
1865
Newspaper

"Mr. Lane in his early youth exhibited uncommon proofs of capacity by drawings of wonderful vigor and truthfulness so that they attracted the notice of some of the best judges, among others of Mr. Pendleton, the pioneer of lithography. who took a genuine interest in the young artist and invited him to Boston where greater opportunity could be afforded him for study and improvement. This great promise of early life was fully redeemed in riper years when, self-taught, he mastered the difficulties of the art and took place in front rank of the marine painters of this country. An afflicting malady which crippled him for life prevented him taking extensive journeys for picturesque material but whenever it wass possible for him to reach striking and characteristic views of our coast he visited them and the number of fine works distributed throughout the country show with what judgement he selected his subjects and how happily he rendered them."

[+]
artwork
A Brief Ejectment: Xenophon's Retreat out of the Enemy's Country
David Claypoole Johnston
c.1827
Lithograph
7 1/2 x 9 in.
Courtesy American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.

One of the Pendleton brothers kicking Russell Jarvis out the door of the printing establishment.

[+]
artwork
Lithography W. & J. Pendleton, No. 1 Graphic Court, Washington Street
J. Cheney
between 1827 and 1830
Lithograph
3 7/8 x 2 3/4 in., on sheet 5 1/8 x 3 7/8 in.
Courtesy American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.

Subject: Advertising card for the Boston lithography firm. A woman sits at a desk, writing on a writing slope. Copied from a vignette signed R. Lane on the title page of C.J. Hullmandel's Art of Drawing on Stone, 1824.

[+]
artwork
Old State House in Flames
Robert Salmon
The Bostonian Society (1883.0107)
lithograph
1832
"Salmon pinxt" at lower left; "Pendleton, Boston" at lower right

Also filed under: Salmon, Robert »   //  State House »

[+]
publication
Sixty Years' Memories of Art and Artists
Benjamin Champney
c.1899
Woburn, MA,

"After a time I left the shoe store, and through the influence of my friend Cooke, was admitted as an apprentice to Moore, successor to Pendleton, in the lithographic business. Here I was speedily worked in as a draughtsman for ordinary commercial work, the fine work, such as designs of figures and heads from life being done by Cooke. F.H. Lane, afterwards well-known as a marine painter, did most of the views, hotels, etc. He was very accurate in his drawing, understood perspective and naval architecture perfectly, as well as the handling of vessels, and was a good, all-round draughtsman." (1)

(1) John WilmerdingFitz Henry Lane (Gloucester, MACape Ann Historical Association2005)Reprint of Fitz Hugh Lane, by John Wilmerding. New York: Praeger, 1971.

[+]
artwork
Soft Glides the Sea, Bounding and Free
Pendleton's Lithography
1831
Lithographic sheet music
11 x 7 1/4 in.
Boston Athenaeum
Image: Boston Athenaeum
[+]
artwork
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society membership certificate
c.1829
Lithograph
Printed by Pendleton's
18 3/8 x 15 5/8 in.
Boston Athenaeum
Image: Boston Athenaeum

Also filed under: Horticultural Hall »

[+]
artwork
View of Lowell, Mass.
Elliza Ann Farrar
1834
Lithograph
Printed by Pendleton's
14 1/8 x 23 5/8 in.
Boston Athenaeum
Image: Boston Athenaeum

Also filed under: Lowell, Mass. »

[+]

Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)

See IMPRESSIONS tab for provenance.

Exhibition History

1974 Farnsworth Art Museum: John Wilmerding, Rockland, Maine, Fitz Hugh Lane 1804-1805, no. 1, lent by the Boston Athenaeum. [Impression: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)].
1977 Boston Athenaeum: Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts, The Fountainhead of American Lithography: Prints from the Pendleton Shop 1825-1836 [Impression: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)].
2017–18 Cape Ann Museum: Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts, Drawn From Nature & on Stone: The Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane [Impression: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)].

Published References

Wilmerding 1963: "The Lithographs of Fitz Hugh Lane," p. 33.
Wilmerding 1964: Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865: American Marine Painter, p.66 no.142.
Farnsworth 1974: Fitz Hugh Lane 1804-1865, no. 1. [Impression: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)].
Crossman 1985: "Lithographs of Fitz Hugh Lane," p.69-70. ⇒ includes text
Wilmerding 1988a: Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, p.10. [Impression: Worcester Art Museum (inv. 87)].
Wilmerding 2005: Fitz Henry Lane, ill. 3, text, p. 21. [Impression: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)].
Craig 2006a: Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth-Century America, fig. 16, text, pp. 49-50. [Impression: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)].
Cape Ann Museum 2017: Drawn from Nature & on Stone: the Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane, fig. 3, text, pp. 11-12, View of the Old Building at the Corner of Ann St, Boston. [Impression: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)]. ⇒ includes text

Impression information

American Antiquarian Society (inv. 368)

enlarge
Photo: Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society (inv. 368)
Printed under image from left to right: Drawn by F.H. Lane, _1835 Pendleton's Lithography, Boston. / VIEW OF THE OLD BUILDING AT THE CORNER OF ANN ST. / BOSTON, MASS.
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. (151001)

Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)

enlarge
Photo: Boston Athenaeum (inv. 503)
View of the Old Building at the Corner of Ann St, Boston
Printed under image left to right: Drawn by F.H. Lane, - 1835 Pendleton's Lithography, Boston.
Boston Athenaeum
Provenance

Princeton University Library Rare Books and Special Collections (inv. 743)

no image available
Princeton University Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton, New Jersey. Gift of Leonard L. Milberg, Princeton University Class of 1953. (Milberg.Views 1983.10)

Worcester Art Museum (inv. 87)

no image available
View of the Old Building at the Corner of Ann Street, Boston, Mass.
Printed under image from left to right: Drawn by F.H. Lane, _1835 Pendleton's Lithography, Boston. / VIEW OF THE OLD BUILDING AT THE CORNER OF ANN ST. / BOSTON, MASS.
Worcester Art Museum, Mass., Charles E. Goodspeed Collection

Related historical materials

Boston Locales, Businesses, & Buildings
Lithography
Citation: "View of the Old Building at the corner of Ann St., Boston, Mass., 1835 (inv. 445)." Fitz Henry Lane Online. Cape Ann Museum. http://fitzhenrylaneonline.org/catalog/entry.php?id=445 (accessed September 6, 2024).
Record last updated March 6, 2017. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Please share your knowledge with us: click here to leave feedback.