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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. 243
The "Constitution" in Boston Harbor
c. 1848–49 Oil on canvas mounted on panel 15 3/4 x 23 1/4 in. (40 x 59.1 cm) No inscription found
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Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)
Joseph Howe, Boston
Henry H. Hayes, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tenn., 1968
Exhibition History
Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee, Spirit of a Nation: Highlights from the Hunter Museum of Art, September 2–November 28, 2004.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York, Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation, 2007., The "Constitution" in Boston Harbor.
Traveled to: Shanghai Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China, 1–30, 2007; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China, 10–5, 2007.
Traveled to: Shanghai Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China, 1–30, 2007; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China, 10–5, 2007.
Published References
Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane. New York: Praeger, 1971., p. 180.
Henning, William T., Jr. A Catalogue of the American Collection: Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga, TN: Hunter Museum of Art, 1985., ill., p. 60.
Hodgins, Francis. Adventures in American Literature. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.
Hodgins, Francis, Kenneth Silverman, Milton R. Stern, and Rolando R. Hinojosa-Smith. Adventures in American Literature. Dumfries, NC: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1994.
Keohane, Robert O. Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2000., cover.
Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation. New York: Merrell; in association with the Guggenheim Museum, 2007.
Stop Motion Project. Chattanooga, TN: Creative Discovery Museum, 2011.
Commentary
This painting is undated, but the image—if not the painting itself—predates 1853. This assessment is based on the identifiable buildings on the Boston skyline as seen from Governors Island (a viewing point favored by Lane). The painting quite possibly dates to the mid-1840s, given the treatment of sky and water, as well as the vessels and their conservative designs.
The large warship in the center cannot be identified as the frigate “Constitution,” as the traditional title of the painting suggests. The vessel depicted has smaller armament (twelve gun ports at gun-deck level versus sixteen for “Constitution”). This vessel was most likely rated a 32-gun frigate or (less likely) a large sloop of war; “Constitution” was rated a 44-gun frigate. The spar deck with its solid bulwarks (and almost completely erased gun ports) support the 32-gun frigate rating.
From the carvings and profile of the bow, and the quarter galleries at the stern, it is probable that this vessel was a product of shipbuilding programs dating between the War of 1812 and the early 1840s. Changes to the vessel’s profile were likely in those years but would not have been profound.
From left to right, the types of vessels depicted are: a New England boat (square-stern version), a sloop, two merchant brigs, a yawl boat (foreground), the frigate described above, a topsail schooner, and the stern of a pinky. All of the rigs and hull forms depicted are conservative in design for the attributed period.
– Erik Ronnberg