Lot Essay
Like many American painters in the early nineteenth century, Fitz Hugh Lane began his career in a lithography shop, starting in 1832 with various firms in Gloucester and Boston, Massachusetts. Once he had established himself as a highly accomplished printmaker, Lane then advanced his reputation by painting numerous marine and topographical compositions. Lane painted View of Norwich, Connecticut in 1849, nearly a decade after completing a color lithograph of the same image. In the process of creating the painted work, Lane made a number of small changes and enhanced the picture with a brilliant, light-filled sky.
In 1838 Lane visited Norwich, Connecticut to sketch this thriving town located nearly fifteen miles inland, at the point where Connecticut's Thames River is no longer navigable by seagoing vessels. Norwich was an important shipping center along the Connecticut coast; manufactured and traded goods arrived by railroad from the north and west and were loaded aboard vessels to be shipped to other mercantile centers along the Atlantic seaboard and further abroad.
After completing an on-site sketch of Norwich, Lane had the image sent to New York, where it appeared as a color lithograph by Sarony & Major, a prestigious lithographic and publishing firm. John Wilmerding has described the lithographic view of Norwich, "Perhaps the most charming of these early views is the View of Norwich from the West Side of the River... In contrast to the St. John and Washington prints, this Connecticut scene was, Sketched from nature by Lane, and rather than being printed by Moore's in Boston it was 'Lith. And Printed in Colors by Sarony & Major, 117 Fulton St., New York,' indicating that Lane's reputation had reached beyond the New England area and that he had now come to the attention of New York establishments. That he was also capable of executing the more than one stone necessary in color lithography seems borne out by the noticeable maturity demonstrated in this print of which only a small number of copies are known. Now Lane's figures are more convincing, and the receding scale of the buildings more smoothly handled. Many of the houses in the background are a reddish-pink, one of the principal colors in the print and one that would be used by Lane frequently in later views. The total composition is more coherent than earlier efforts, while retaining the artist's delight in engaging details, such as the two cows here at the left or the two railroads (the Norwich and Worcester and the New London, Willimantic, and Palmer) on either bank of the river." (Fitz Hugh Lane, New York, 1971, p. 25)
In View of Norwich, Connecticut Lane has included numerous details that underscore Norwich's position as an important mercantile and transport center. In the right foreground sloops and other vessels rest alongside wharves which are lined with railroad cars and flatbeds. Across the river one can see a variety of vessels, including a large paddle-wheel steamer; impressive red brick warehouses line the waterfront. Pristine white houses and numerous church spires stand prominently under a bright, clear sky. The brilliant atmosphere evident in View of Norwich, Connecticut evokes the crystalline skies that Lane would undertake in his later, more luminist works from the 1850s and 1860s.
In 1838 Lane visited Norwich, Connecticut to sketch this thriving town located nearly fifteen miles inland, at the point where Connecticut's Thames River is no longer navigable by seagoing vessels. Norwich was an important shipping center along the Connecticut coast; manufactured and traded goods arrived by railroad from the north and west and were loaded aboard vessels to be shipped to other mercantile centers along the Atlantic seaboard and further abroad.
After completing an on-site sketch of Norwich, Lane had the image sent to New York, where it appeared as a color lithograph by Sarony & Major, a prestigious lithographic and publishing firm. John Wilmerding has described the lithographic view of Norwich, "Perhaps the most charming of these early views is the View of Norwich from the West Side of the River... In contrast to the St. John and Washington prints, this Connecticut scene was, Sketched from nature by Lane, and rather than being printed by Moore's in Boston it was 'Lith. And Printed in Colors by Sarony & Major, 117 Fulton St., New York,' indicating that Lane's reputation had reached beyond the New England area and that he had now come to the attention of New York establishments. That he was also capable of executing the more than one stone necessary in color lithography seems borne out by the noticeable maturity demonstrated in this print of which only a small number of copies are known. Now Lane's figures are more convincing, and the receding scale of the buildings more smoothly handled. Many of the houses in the background are a reddish-pink, one of the principal colors in the print and one that would be used by Lane frequently in later views. The total composition is more coherent than earlier efforts, while retaining the artist's delight in engaging details, such as the two cows here at the left or the two railroads (the Norwich and Worcester and the New London, Willimantic, and Palmer) on either bank of the river." (Fitz Hugh Lane, New York, 1971, p. 25)
In View of Norwich, Connecticut Lane has included numerous details that underscore Norwich's position as an important mercantile and transport center. In the right foreground sloops and other vessels rest alongside wharves which are lined with railroad cars and flatbeds. Across the river one can see a variety of vessels, including a large paddle-wheel steamer; impressive red brick warehouses line the waterfront. Pristine white houses and numerous church spires stand prominently under a bright, clear sky. The brilliant atmosphere evident in View of Norwich, Connecticut evokes the crystalline skies that Lane would undertake in his later, more luminist works from the 1850s and 1860s.