Fitz Henry Lane
Boston Harbor, Sunset1850-1855

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Transatlantic Exchange and Its Legacies

Artist or Maker: Fitz Henry Lane
United States, Massachusetts, Gloucester, 1804-1865
Title: Boston Harbor, Sunset
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1850-1855
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Canvas: 24 × 39 1/4 in. Frame: 35 × 50 1/8 × 5 in.
Credit Line: Gift of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., in honor of the museum's 25th anniversary
Accession Number: AC1993.229.1
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: American Art
Curatorial Notes: Boston harbor is portrayed with the city in the background in this painting. Rays of the setting sun intensify the entire scene, while the mid-ground reveals Fitz Henry Lane’s sharp hand in accurately depicting the riggings on each of the ships’ masts and sails. Lane was one of the most noted American painters of luminism, a style of painting that gained popularity after the mid-19th century and was characterized by attention to detail and diffused light.
Selected Bibliography: Stebbins, Jr., Theodore E., Carol Troyen, and Trevor J. Fairbrother. A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting, 1760-1910. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1983.