Harbor of Boston, with the City in the Distance
c. 1846–1847
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
unframed: 43.2 × 68.6 cm · framed: 66 × 104.8 × 14 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
American Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund and partial gift of Travers Newton, Joanna Newton Riccardi and Georgia Newton Pulos
Accession Number
2004.35
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
In this late afternoon view of Boston Harbor, Lane masterfully evoked the diffuse quality of sunlight reflecting off water. The artist was a son of a shipbuilder, so perhaps it is not surprising that his renderings of ships and their intricate riggings are painstakingly accurate. On the far left side of the painting, evolving technology appears in the guise of a steamboat, which ferried passengers between Boston and Gloucester.