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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. 263
Off Mount Desert Island, Maine
Entrance of Somes Sound; Off Mount Desert Island; Off the Coast of Maine, with Desert-Island in the Distance
1850–60 Oil on canvas 20 x 33 1/8 in. (50.8 x 84.1 cm) No inscription found
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Related Work in the Catalog
Supplementary Images
Proposed viewpoint of Lane when creating the picture. Viewpoint plottings by Erik Ronnberg using the... [more] 1875 U.S. Coast Survey chart of Mount Desert Island.
Proposed viewpoint of Lane when creating the picture. (detail.) Viewpoint plottings by Erik Ronnberg... [more] using the 1875 U.S. Coast Survey chart of Mount Desert Island.
Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)
Maxim Karolik, Newport, R.I.
The Shelburne Museum, Vt., 1959
Exhibition History
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition, March 20–April 17, 1966., no. 19.
Traveled to: Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine, 30–6, 1966.
Traveled to: Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine, 30–6, 1966.
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, Inventing Acadia: Artists and Tourists at Mount Desert, June 13–October 24, 1999.
Published References
The American Neptune, Pictorial Supplement VII: A Selection of Marine Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865. Salem, MA: The American Neptune, 1965., pl. XI, no. 32. ⇒ includes 
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Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition. Lincoln, MA: De Cordova Museum; in association with Colby College Art Museum, 1966., no. 19. ⇒ includes text
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Wilmerding, John. "Fitz Hugh Lane's Paintings Down East." Down East (April 1966)., ill., p. 43. ⇒ includes text
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Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane. New York: Praeger, 1971., no. 69.
Muller, Nancy C. Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum. Shelburne, VT: Shelburne Museum, 1976.
Gerdts, William H. "'The Sea is His Home': Clarence Cook Visits Fitz Hugh Lane." The American Art Journal 17, no. 3 (Summer 1985)., ill. p.44. ⇒ includes text
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Wilmerding, John. American Views: Essays on American Art. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.
Wilmerding, John. "Fitz Hugh Lane." The Artist's Mount Desert: American Painters on the Maine Coast. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 45–67., fig. 51, p.59, Off the Coast of Maine, with Desert-Island in the Distance. ⇒ includes text
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Wilmerding, John. Fitz Henry Lane. Gloucester, MA: Cape Ann Historical Association, 2005. Reprint of Fitz Hugh Lane, by John Wilmerding. New York: Praeger, 1971. Includes new information regarding the artist's name., ill. 69.
Commentary
This painting follows closely Lane’s sketch titled Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert, 1852 (inv. 184) (probably given its title by Stevens, whose notes add that it was “taken from sloop ‘Superior’ at anchor”). The “Superior” was probably anchored near the southwest shore of the harbor, opposite Clarke’s Point, looking north-by-east toward Robinson’s Mountain (to the left of the half brig in the foreground). The brig’s sails obscure the entrance to Somes Sound. The mountain to the right is Brown’s Mountain on the east side of Somes Sound. The mountains to the left, on the west side of the sound, are Flying Mountain and Robinson’s Mountain. At far left is Beech Mountain with the hollow for Echo Lake to its right. Lane’s view of the Southwest Harbor settlement is limited to the southeast half of Clarke’s Point; the greater part of the community lies at the head of the harbor, well beyond the left margin of this image. The open water to the right of the brig is one of two channels around Greening’s Island leading to the entrance to Somes Sound. The houses in the distance are on Manchester Point, which marks the east side of the sound’s entrance.
The half brig in right-center foreground appears to be hove-to, but in the absence of a pilot vessel close by, or a pilot being conveyed in a small boat, there is little reason for this maneuver. More likely, the vessel is tacking in haste, due either to a sudden wind shift or to avoid shallows. Wind shifts are common on this coast, thanks to the hilly topography, which may explain why the schooner (left background) and topsail schooner (right background) have trimmed their sails to a different wind direction.
Lane’s treatment of the water indicates a breezy day for vessels in this region. Any sailor would appreciate the near-photographic treatment of the choppy waves and wind-blown spray. The light color of the distant water reflects a break in the dense cloud cover, while the sunlight reflected off the turbulent cloud bank adds to the unsettled state of the weather.
– Erik Ronnberg