Boston Harbor
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Hum150 11-12:20
Boston Harbor
The painting that I choose to do my art review on is" Boston Harbor (1846-47) by Fitz Hugh Lane. This oil-on-canvas landscape painting shows a view of Boston Harbor. All of the ships that are in this scene are merchant ships, including the two large, three-masted ships at middle distance. But, instead of being focused on all the commotion of the harbor, this painting focuses on the Harbor sky.
I found this ironic considering the painting is titled Boston Harbor. The style that lane used for this painting is known as Luminisim, which means the painting is characterized by light which makes us focus on the sky. This also completely changes the way the viewer looks at the painting. Instead of seeing a lot of hustle and commotion at the busy harbor, the viewer is overcome by the calmness of the sky.
The way the sky projects the warmth of the mid-day sun and then blends into the water gives the impression of peace and calmness throughout the painting. The spacing and form in this painting also helps us focus on the color because, the way the space is divided helps us focus on the sky and in addition the horizon line is pushed far back into the distance to help the artist emphasizes the size of the harbor...