An online project under the direction of the CAPE ANN MUSEUM
Welcome to Fitz Henry Lane OnlineFitz Henry Lane Online is a freely-accessible interactive and interdisciplinary online resource created by the Cape Ann Museum. The website is organized around a catalog of the paintings, drawings, and lithographs of nineteenth-century American painter Fitz Henry Lane (1804–1865). The Cape Ann Museum, located in Gloucester, Massachusetts (Lane’s birthplace and home for most of his life) has the world’s largest collection of Lane’s paintings, drawings, lithographs, and related material. The website is intended to provide information of interest to a broad audience, and to serve as a resource for information and analysis of Lane’s work. The website focuses on both the formal, aesthetic qualities and provides detailed information on the historical context of his pictures. For more see About the Project. News:
Unfurling Fitz Henry LaneUnfurling Fitz Henry Lane from Cape Ann Museum on Vimeo. Unknown Lane Watercolor Discovered at an Auction in Belgium
This work is a recent discovery as of 2022, a slightly smaller watercolor version of the dynamic small oil, Three Master in Rough Seas, 1856 (inv. 4), in the collection of the Cape Ann Museum. This painting was acquired at a recent auction in Belgium as an unknown work. Gallery labels on the back show that it was at some point sold through the Max Bine Gallery in Paris which was active from 1914–1930. Lane did very few watercolors; we have not seen him use the medium as preparatory works for oils where one would expect a looser technique as he worked out ideas. The brushwork here is very precise and he doesn’t use washes or scumbles as is typical in preparatory works. He appears to be copying his oil original as the composition and details precisely follow the oil painting. |
Explore works in the Catalog using the Interactive Feature![]()
Dolliver's Neck and the Western Shore from Field Beach, 1857 (inv. 3)
Collection: Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Gift of Helen Stevens Babson, 1933 (678.00) ![]()
Gloucester Harbor from Rocky Neck, 1844 (inv. 14)
Collection: Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Gift of Mrs. Jane Parker Stacy (Mrs. George O. Stacy), 1948 (1289.1a) ![]()
Stage Rocks and Western Shore of Gloucester Outer Harbor, 1857 (inv. 348)
Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., John Wilmerding Collection, Promised Gift ![]()
Fresh Water Cove from Dolliver's Neck, Gloucester, Early 1850s (inv. 45)
Collection: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bequest of Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815–1865 (48.445) ![]()
The Babson Meadows at Riverdale, 1863 (inv. 11)
Collection: Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Gift of Roger W. Babson, 1937 (779.03) ![]()
The Old Fort and Ten Pound Island, Gloucester, 1850s (inv. 30)
Collection: Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Deposited by the Collection of Addison Gilbert Hospital, 1978 (DEP. 201) ![]()
Gloucester Harbor, 1852 (inv. 38)
Collection: Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Deposited by the City of Gloucester, 1952. Given to the city by Mrs. Julian James in memory of her grandfather Sidney Mason, 1913 (DEP. 200) ![]()
New York Harbor, c.1855 (inv. 46)
Collection: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Maxim Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815–1865 (48.446) » Browse all the works in the catalog. » Browse works by type: » See Fitz Henry Lane works on view at the Cape Ann Museum Historical MaterialsSubscription List and Mailing for "Castine, From Hospital Island" 1855 Historical Materials: Wheel of the "Jamestown" Historical Materials: 1851 Map of the Towns of Gloucester and Rockport (detail showing wharves) Historical Materials: First Order Fresnel Lens for Thacher Island lighthouse beacon Historical Materials: Browse all Historical Materials » About Fitz Henry LaneEducational Resources |





