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Unloading a Ship
circa 1850oil on canvas
11 3/4 in. x 15 1/2 in. (29.85 cm x 39.37 cm)
Bequest of Henry Melville Fuller, 2002.20.48
Fitz H. Lane
American
1804–1865
ON VIEW
Today esteemed as one of America's most gifted marine painters, Fitz Henry Lane had only modest success during his own lifetime. Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Lane suffered a childhood illness that left him unable to walk without the aid of crutches. The artist began drawing as a teenager, and after a brief stint in a Gloucester lithographic firm, he went to Boston to serve an apprenticeship under noted lithographer William S. Pendleton. Between 1832 and 1837 Lane worked for Pendleton making illustrations for sheet music as well as landscape views. He was afterward employed by Boston publishers Keith and Moore, and for two years beginning in 1845 Lane established his own business with partner John W. Scott (1815-1907).
Influenced by marine painter Robert Salmon (1775-1858), Lane completed his first oil paintings about 1840. He exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum, and in 1848 he sold the first of several paintings to the American Art-Union in New York City. The same year, Lane moved back to Gloucester and began to make regular trips to Maine. Although Lane would later travel to New York, Baltimore, and possibly to Puerto Rico, marine views of Massachusetts and Maine remained his primary subjects until the end of his career. The artist died in Gloucester in 1865.
Painted about 1850, Unloading a Ship depicts a calm inlet at sunset. On the beach in the foreground, two men engage in conversation as a third transfers cargo from a large dory to a horse-drawn cart. Two ships, meticulously studied and drawn, lie in the glassy water beyond. A warm red-orange light suffuses the scene, lending a nostalgic cast to the image.
In contrast to Lane's luminist work of the later 1850s and 1860s, Unloading a Ship embodies narrative elements that relate it to contemporary genre paintings by such artists as William Sidney Mount (1807-1868). Reading from left to right, the two men in the lower left appear to be a sailor and a landsman, respectively. Paralleling paintings by Mount depicting horse trading and other commercial negotiations, the two figures appear to be discussing some transaction or commodity. In this case, the subject of their discussion is probably the cart in the center foreground. Loading the cart from the empty boat to the right, a second pair of figures underscores the act of transferring goods from sea to land. Lane's contrived, almost didactic presentation of the foreground elements emphasizes the importance of coastal shipping, particularly to remote villages along the Maine coast.
If Lane's figural arrangement seems somewhat artificial, there is little that is fanciful in the artist's rendering of the ships. Carefully observed and delineated, the vessels are easily recognizable as to both their class and function. The ship on the left is a topsail schooner, a cargo carrier that appears frequently in Lane's paintings. To the right is a smaller schooner, perhaps a fishing vessel. In keeping with the sunset hour, the larger ship appears to be furling its sails for the night. The smaller craft is still fully rigged, suggesting that it has just arrived on the scene after a day of work.
An apparent celebration of coastal shipping combined with carefully observed images of sailing vessels, Unloading a Ship reinforces scholarly assertions that Lane's clients were most likely ship captains and others who were intimately familiar with the sea trade. Painted during an era when the owners and masters of ships ranked among New England's commercial elite,Unloading a Ship is not only an affirmation of their roles in society but a testament to their cultural aspirations as well.
Unloading a Ship was bequeathed by Henry Melville Fuller to the Currier Museum of Art in 2002.
VSD
REFERENCE
Franklin Kelly with Nicolai Cikovsky Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I . Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1996.
Influenced by marine painter Robert Salmon (1775-1858), Lane completed his first oil paintings about 1840. He exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum, and in 1848 he sold the first of several paintings to the American Art-Union in New York City. The same year, Lane moved back to Gloucester and began to make regular trips to Maine. Although Lane would later travel to New York, Baltimore, and possibly to Puerto Rico, marine views of Massachusetts and Maine remained his primary subjects until the end of his career. The artist died in Gloucester in 1865.
Painted about 1850, Unloading a Ship depicts a calm inlet at sunset. On the beach in the foreground, two men engage in conversation as a third transfers cargo from a large dory to a horse-drawn cart. Two ships, meticulously studied and drawn, lie in the glassy water beyond. A warm red-orange light suffuses the scene, lending a nostalgic cast to the image.
In contrast to Lane's luminist work of the later 1850s and 1860s, Unloading a Ship embodies narrative elements that relate it to contemporary genre paintings by such artists as William Sidney Mount (1807-1868). Reading from left to right, the two men in the lower left appear to be a sailor and a landsman, respectively. Paralleling paintings by Mount depicting horse trading and other commercial negotiations, the two figures appear to be discussing some transaction or commodity. In this case, the subject of their discussion is probably the cart in the center foreground. Loading the cart from the empty boat to the right, a second pair of figures underscores the act of transferring goods from sea to land. Lane's contrived, almost didactic presentation of the foreground elements emphasizes the importance of coastal shipping, particularly to remote villages along the Maine coast.
If Lane's figural arrangement seems somewhat artificial, there is little that is fanciful in the artist's rendering of the ships. Carefully observed and delineated, the vessels are easily recognizable as to both their class and function. The ship on the left is a topsail schooner, a cargo carrier that appears frequently in Lane's paintings. To the right is a smaller schooner, perhaps a fishing vessel. In keeping with the sunset hour, the larger ship appears to be furling its sails for the night. The smaller craft is still fully rigged, suggesting that it has just arrived on the scene after a day of work.
An apparent celebration of coastal shipping combined with carefully observed images of sailing vessels, Unloading a Ship reinforces scholarly assertions that Lane's clients were most likely ship captains and others who were intimately familiar with the sea trade. Painted during an era when the owners and masters of ships ranked among New England's commercial elite,Unloading a Ship is not only an affirmation of their roles in society but a testament to their cultural aspirations as well.
Unloading a Ship was bequeathed by Henry Melville Fuller to the Currier Museum of Art in 2002.
VSD
REFERENCE
Franklin Kelly with Nicolai Cikovsky Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I . Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1996.
Exhibition
1966 Fogg Art Museum, Harvard, University, Cambridge, MA, "Luminous Landscape: The American Study of Light 1860-1875." April 18 - May 11, cat. no. 28. 1971 "19th Century American Painting form the Collection of Henry Melville Fuller." Traveled to: Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, Sept. 18 - Oct. 17; Mead Art Building, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, Oct. 27- Nov. 24, cat. no. 50.
1992 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "The Currier of the Future: New and Promised Gifts." Feb. 25 - May 24, cat. no. 23.
2002 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "19th Century American Paintings: The Henry Melville Fuller Collection." Feb. 2 - March 11.
Provenance
Vose Galleries, Boston, MA Purchased by Henry Melville Fuller, July 16, 1962
Bequest to Currier Museum of Art, 2002
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