New York Harbor, 1852

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 59.7 x 88.9 cm (23 1/2 x 35 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Frances Elizabeth Smith

Accession Number

1994.100.1

Artists / Makers

Fitz Henry Lane (painter) American, 1804 - 1865

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower right: FHLane. / 1852

Provenance

Lewis Gouverneur Morris [1882-1967], New York;[1] by inheritance to his daughter, Frances Elizabeth Morris Smith [1915-1994], Newport and Palm Beach; her estate; bequest 1994 to NGA.

[1] Information from telephone conversation with Alletta M. Cooper, daughter of Frances Elizabeth Smith, 5 May 1996 (memorandum, in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Morris, Lewis Gouverneur
Smith, Frances Elizabeth, Estate of
Smith, Frances Elizabeth, Estate of

Exhibition History

1988: Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1988, no. 37, color repro.

1998: American Light: Selections from the National Gallery of Art, Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, May-August 1998, no cat.

1998: Treasures of Light: Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, March-April 1998, no cat.

2001: The Morris Legacy: Profile of a Newport Collection, Newport Art Museum, 2001, not in cat.

2011: Perfectly American: The Art-Union and its Artists, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, 2011, not in catalogue.

Technical Summary

The support is a twill fabric with selvages on the left and right edges; it is unlined and is probably on the same four-member mortise-and-tenon stretcher on which it was painted. A thin white ground layer was apparently applied while the fabric was on a different stretcher, because the ground only covers parts of the tacking margins. Underdrawing in a dry medium is visible in normal light in several areas, some of which show changes. The blue flag flying from the large ship at the center right was originally slightly lower on the mast; several flags were underdrawn on the smaller ship at the right, but not subsequently painted. The riggings of the various vessels have imprecise underdrawing, but the painted lines were possibly executed with the aid of a straight edge. Some of the waves also have underdrawing. The paint layers were applied very thinly, with a low impasto, to create highlights in the waves. The paint surface is in very good condition, with no evidence of significant losses or abrasion. The varnish has not discolored.

Bibliography

1964: Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804-1865, American Marine Painter. Salem, Massachusetts, 1964: 59, no. 63.

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: 408-410, color repro.