Lumber Schooners at Evening on Penobscot Bay
1863
Artist, American, 1804 - 1865
Despite its meticulous draftsmanship and precise detail, Lane's work is far more than a simple inventory of harbor activity. The diminutive figures and carefully rendered vessels remain secondary to the vast expanse of sky, where shimmering light creates a tranquil, idyllic mood. Lane's rarefied landscapes epitomize man's harmonious union with the natural world.
Some scholars have used the term "luminism" to describe the artist's subtle use of light and atmospheric effects to convey nature's intangible spirit. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the foremost exponent of American Transcendentalism, believed that poets and painters should serve as conduits through which the experience of nature might be transmitted directly to their audience. With a similarly self-effacing artistic temperament, Lane minimized his autographic presence, using translucent glazes rather than heavily impastoed surfaces to underscore the scene's pervasive stillness. His elegiac paintings differ profoundly from the more explosive exuberance expressed by Cole and Church, though he shared these artists' reverence for nature and their belief in its inherent divinity.
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I, pages 412-415, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-19th-century-part-1.pdf
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 67
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 62.5 x 96.8 cm (24 5/8 x 38 1/8 in.)
framed: 97.8 x 129.5 x 10.2 cm (38 1/2 x 51 x 4 in.) -
Accession
1980.29.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
(Harvey Additon, Boston), until c. 1940; Mr. and Mrs. Francis Whiting Hatch, Sr., Boston, and Castine, Maine;[1] gift 1980 to NGA.
[1] According to Francis Hatch, Jr. (letter of 9 September 1982 in NGA curatorial files), his father purchased the painting from Harvey Additon's store on LaGrange Street in Boston about "forty years ago." Hatch adds: "By coincidence it was the same Additon who found many of the paintings in Maxim Karolik's collection."
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1963
Maine and Its Artists, 1710-1963, Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1963-1964, no. 81.
1966
Fitz Hugh Lane, The First Major Exhibition, De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts; Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine, 1966, no. 48.
1969
American Paintings of Ports and Harbors, 1774-1968, Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, Florida; Norfold Museum of Arts and Sciences, Virginia, 1969, no. 19.
1974
Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804-1865, The William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, 1974, no. 43.
1980
American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, 12, fig. 1, frontispiece.
1983
A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Grand Palais, Paris, 1983-1984, no. 34, repro.
1988
Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1988, no. 61.
1990
Loan for display with permanent collection, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1990.
1999
America: The New World in 19th-Century Painting, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, 1999, no. 36, repro.
An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no cat.
2002
American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States 1820-1880, Tate Britain, London; Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2002, no. 72, repro. (shown only in London).
Bibliography
1963
Miller, William B. "Maine and Its Artists." Art Journal 23 (Winter 1963-1964): repro. 160.
1964
Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804-1865, American Marine Painter. Salem, Massachusettes, 1964: 63, no. 105.
1966
Fitz Hugh Lane: The First Major Exhibition. Exh. cat. De Cordova Museum. Lincoln, Massachusettes, 1966: no. 48.
1971
Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane. New York, 1971: 76, repro. no. 77.
1974
Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804-1865. Exh. cat. William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, Rockland, Maine: 1974: no. 43.
1980
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: no. 26, color repro.
Wilmerding, John. "American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875; An Exhibition at the National Gallery of Art." Antiques 117 (April 1980): 848, color repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 98-99, 120-21.
1982
Journal of the American Medical Association 248 (1 October 1982): 1553, color repro. cover.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 549, no. 835, color repro.
1987
Wilmerding, John. American Marine Painting. Rev. ed. of A History of American Marine Painting, 1968. New York, 1987: 118, color repro. 117.
1988
Kelly, Franklin. "The Paintings of Fitz Hugh Lane." Antiques 134 (July 1988): 122, color repro. 119.
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 104, no. 29, color repro.
WIlmerding, John. Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Washington, D.C., 1988: 151, no. 61.
1991
Skolnick, Arnold. ed. Paintings of Maine. New York, 1991: 126, color repro. 40.
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 293, color repro.
Gingold, Diane J., and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 105, color repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 225, repro.
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 237, repro.
1996
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 412-415, color repro.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 324, no. 261, color repro.
Inscriptions
lower right: F. H. Lane / 1863
Wikidata ID
Q20188638