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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. 605
View in Boston Harbour
c. 1837 Lithograph 12 x 18 11/16 in. (30.5 x 47.5 cm) Sheet: 16 15/16 x 21 7/8 in. (43 x 55.5 cm.) Drawn by F.H. Lane.
T. Moore's Lithography, Boston. Collections:
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Related Work in the Catalog
Exhibition History
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, Art and Commerce: Lithographs by Currier and Ives and Other Firms, March 13–August 1, 1982. [Impression: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)].
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, Boston Views, August 7, 1995–January 1, 1996. [Impression: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)].
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts, Drawn From Nature & on Stone: The Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane, October 7, 2017–March 4, 2018. [Impression: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)].
Published References
fig. 13, View in Boston Harbour. [Impression: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)].
Crossman, Carl L. "Lithographs of Fitz Hugh Lane." In American Maritime Prints, edited by Elton W. Hall. New Bedford, MA: The Whaling Museum by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1987, pp. 63–94. The Proceedings of the Eighth Annual North American Print Conference held at the Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Mass., May 6–7, 1977., fig. 13, p. 87. [Impression: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)]. ⇒ includes 
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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., fig. 9, ill., p. 25.
Craig, James. Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth-Century America. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2006., fig. 26, text, p. 55. [Impression: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)].
Newton, Travers, and Marcia Steele. "The Series Paintings of Fitz Henry Lane: From Field Sketch to Studio Painting." In Emil Bosshard, Paintings Conservator (1945–2006): Essays by Friends and Colleagues, edited by Maria de Peverelli, Mario Grassi, and Hans-Christoph von Imhoff. Florence: Centro Di, 2009, pp. 194–215., p. 200. ⇒ includes text
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Barnhill, Trafton. Drawn from Nature & on Stone: the Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane. Gloucester, MA: Cape Ann Museum, 2017., fig. 45, text, p. 17, View in Boston Harbour. [Impression: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)]. ⇒ includes text
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Barnhill, Georgia B. "Fitz Henry Lane and Coastal New England." Imprint: Journal of the American Historical Print Collectors Society Volume 46, Number 2 (Autumn 2021)., fig. 7. ⇒ includes text
textImpression information
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)
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Photo: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 525)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bequest of Charles Hitchcock Tyler (33.974)
Provenance
Charles Hitchcock Tyler, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1933
Commentary
This lithograph is very similar, although not identical, to a lithograph which is not signed or dated. View in Boston Harbour, c.1836 (inv. 479) It was drawn by Lane and printed at Moore's. It is likely that this work, dedicated to the Tiger Boat Club, preceded the other. The dimensions of the two works are different, as are details such as the clouds and some of the vessels.
This image captures many of the same vessels and harbor activity as View in Boston Harbour, c.1836 (inv. 479) but with changes that greatly improve the composition.
In the left foreground is the rowing shell “Tiger” with crew and passengers on board – all presumably members of the Tiger Boat Club, founded in 1837. Below the print’s title is a line: “Respectfully dedicated to the Tiger Boat Club.”
The right foreground still shows the lone oarsman sculling his yawl boat; other small craft appear as they did in the earlier lithograph. Much the same can be said of the steamboat, the sloops, and the schooners, as well as activity in the far background.
What have changed in a major way are the sails of the large ships at left margin and at right.
The sails of the former, which were furled, are now “hanging in the gear” – the square sails clewed-up but unfurled, hanging in loose bights, darkly shaded by back-lighting. These changes, together with the back-lit sails of the schooner beyond, create a near-solid mass of dark gray which blends with the water’s shaded areas.
The ship at right is now under full sail, including “stu’ns’ls” (studding sails), presenting a solid white mass which, combined with the sails of adjacent small vessels, blends with the sunlit bands of water. The clouds – sunlit at left, shaded at right – provide dramatic contrast to the foreground, creating a strongly contrasting pattern of light. That pattern leads the eye from the vessels at right to the band of sunlit water, thence to the clouds at left, unifying the composition.
It should be noted that the large ship at right would never have navigated Boston Harbor under such a huge spread of canvas. Any sudden change of wind velocity or direction would create sail handling and steering problems that could lead to going aground or colliding with wharves or other vessels. The stu’ns’ls, set in light airs when sailing offshore, would be completely anomalous for this situation – something Lane would certainly have known. Despite that, he must have found them essential to solving the image’s composition problems.
–Erik Ronnberg