Lane, Fitz Henry

Fitz Henry Lane, also called Fitz Hugh Lane, original name Nathaniel Rogers Lane, (born December 19, 1804, Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.—died August 13, 1865, Gloucester), American painter and lithographer known for his marine and coastal scenes of Massachusetts and Maine. His work came to represent the “luminist” style, an offshoot of the Hudson River School and a strain of realism that was known for its meticulous brushwork and an incandescent quality of light.

Lane grew up in the harbour town of Gloucester, Massachusetts. He lost the use of both his legs as a young child, which at that time was thought to have been a form of paralysis brought on by eating the seeds of a poisonous fruit, though it may have been polio. He used crutches for the rest of his life. Though it is not known precisely why, Lane legally changed his name from Nathaniel Rogers Lane to Fitz Henry Lane in 1831. (Somehow, confusion arose about his middle name in the early 20th century, when art historians began indentifying him as Fitz “Hugh” Lane. In 2004 researchers discovered archival documents that corrected that misinformation.) Lane’s art career began in 1832 in Boston, where he studied printmaking at Pendleton’s Lithography under William S. Pendleton, the firm’s owner. He stayed with Pendleton until 1837, at which time he moved on to work at a Boston publishing firm until 1845. During his time in publishing, Lane also began painting oils—seascapes and harbour scenes—and in 1841 exhibited publicly for the first time, at the Boston Athenæum. He continued to work in the graphic arts and opened a lithography firm in Boston about 1844 with John W.A. Scott.

By 1848 Lane had left his firm and returned to Gloucester, where he built himself a house and studio. He spent the rest of his life painting Gloucester’s active coastline and traveled to and painted the ports of Boston, Maine, New York, and other ports throughout the 1850s and early 1860s. Lane’s style evolved into what, in the 20th century, came to be referred to as luminism (practiced also by Martin Johnson Heade, John Frederick Kensett, and others). He painted horizontal landscapes and scenes of the coast that were characterized by their sleek surface, compositional balance, aerial vantage point, an atmosphere of tranquility, a high level of detail, and, in particular, a striking effect of shimmering light. His experience with printmaking informed the nuanced tonal gradations in his paintings as well as the extreme detail applied to the nautical and natural elements (e.g., Boston Harbor, 1850–55; Owl’s Head, Penobscot Bay, Maine, 1862).

Lane was prolific and remained active until his death. His reputation, however, died with him. The resurrection of his oeuvre is credited to art collector Maxim Karolik, who purchased his paintings (and those by his peers) in the 1930s and ’40s and then donated his collection of works to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts in 1948. Since the 1960s Lane’s work has been examined in depth by art historians, notably by John Wilmerding, and has appeared in several large exhibitions. By the 21st century, Lane was regarded as one of the foremost American painters of his generation.