Lot Essay
Edmund Darch Lewis made many visits to Rhode Island following the marriage of his sister, Camilla, to Philip Syng Physick Randolph, a wealthy Philadelphian who owned a summer home at Narragansett. The artist found inspiration in the shimmering light and varied topography of Narragansett and its surroundings. In the present work, Lewis masterfully captures the sumptuous light of the setting sun and its effects on the calm waters and striking terrain of Newport Harbor. The subtle and spiritual treatment of light is reminiscent of the luminist works of his contemporaries Martin Johnson Heade and John Frederick Kensett.