Catalog entry

Commentary

While parts of this painting depict vessels and landmarks associated with Gloucester Harbor, the whole appears to be a composite inspired by that port. That said, one must also wonder for whom Lane painted this picture and why.

The only land recognizable as part of Gloucester Harbor is Ten Pound Island, at right, as seen from South East Harbor looking north. The large boulder at the shoreline and the lighthouse attached to the keeper’s house are the key features. At that time, Ten Pound Island Light was mounted on a lower, octagonal tower with the lens just above the roof of the keeper’s house.

No drawing by Lane shows Ten Pound Island from this viewpoint, but the right-hand panel of his drawing Sketch from Gloucester Outer Harbor, 1863 (inv. 145) offers a profile of the island with the salient features and their relative locations in close approximation to their counterparts in the painting.

The land beyond Ten Pound Island should correspond with Pavilion Beach just west of the Pavilion Hotel and extending to the harbor’s western shore. Here it appears far more distant and indistinct, with no suggestion of the varied topography beyond. Here, the left panel of Sketch from Gloucester Outer Harbor, 1863 (inv. 145) should approximate this area, but offers instead a very different topographic profile. Most at variance of all is the position of the setting sun, which happens to be in the north-northwest – something Lane could only have done on purpose and only at the behest of a client with his own ideas of how a Gloucester Harbor sunset should look.

Of the types of vessels depicted, we can be more certain. At left foreground is a coasting schooner with a deck load of hay, stacked in bales and covered with a tarpaulin. At center is a pinky inbound from a fishing trip, and at far right is most probably an old New England boat, rigged as a schooner, fitted with a cabin, and sailed by itinerant laborers looking for work. Ahead of it is a large bark, probably sailing in ballast (hence riding so high in the water), and en route to a port for cargo. In the distance (left and center), are two schooners and (right of center) a topsail schooner.

Composite notwithstanding, Lane has succeeded in creating a very credible port scene on a calm summer evening. There is hardly a breath of wind as becalmed vessels lie motionless in a glassy sea, their sails hanging flat in the still air. The bowsprits of all the foreground vessels point insistently toward a setting sun masked by clouds which spread its glow across sky and harbor. Liberties with the imagery notwithstanding, Lane’s client got his money’s worth.

—Erik Ronnberg