Artwork Page for Harbor of Boston, with the City in the Distance

Details / Information for Harbor of Boston, with the City in the Distance

Harbor of Boston, with the City in the Distance

c. 1846–1847

Fitz Henry Lane

(American, 1804–1865)
Culture
America
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 66 x 104.8 x 14 cm (26 x 41 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.); Unframed: 43.2 x 68.6 cm (17 x 27 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund and partial gift of Travers Newton, Joanna Newton Riccardi and Georgia Newton Pulos 2004.35
Public Domain
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Location
206 American Landscape
Print
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Did You Know?

For a long time, art historians mistakenly thought the artist’s middle name was Hugh.

Description

In this late afternoon view of Boston Harbor, Lane masterfully evoked the diffuse quality of sunlight reflecting off water. The artist was a son of a shipbuilder, so perhaps it is not surprising that his renderings of ships and their intricate riggings are painstakingly accurate. On the far left side of the painting, evolving technology appears in the guise of a steamboat, which ferried passengers between Boston and Gloucester.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts a tranquil harbor under a hazy, golden sky. In the lower left, a figure in a red shirt steers a boat of barrels across calm water. Several large sailing ships with tall masts and pale sails rest in the middle ground. A single barrel floats in the center. A faint city skyline sits on the horizon beneath a light blue sky with wispy, white clouds.

Harbor of Boston, with the City in the Distance

c. 1846–1847

Fitz Henry Lane

(American, 1804–1865)
America

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