Fitz Henry Lane, also called Fitz Hugh Lane (1804-1865) was born Nathaniel Rogers Lane. He was born on December 19, 1804, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, US. He would remain known as such until he was 27 years of age. He was an Americal painter and lithographer known for his paintings of marine and coastal scenes around Massachusetts and Maine. Lane’s style of painting came to be known as luminism’.

His Childhood

Lane’s family lived in the periphery of Gloucester Harbor’s working waterfront and his father, Jonathan Dennison Lane, was a sailmaker. Had it not been for his life-long physical handicap, Lane would have pursued a seafaring career instead of becoming an artist. Lane was exposed to the sea and maritime life since his birth and this had a great impact on his choice of career later in is life. Lane grew up in the harbour town of Glouster, Massachusetts. As a young child, he lost the use of both of his legs, probably due to a form of paralysis or an attack of polio and he used crutches during the rest of his life. Although the exact cause of his handicap was not known with certainty, some historians believe that consumption of a poisonous weed which was known as ‘jimson weed’ caused the paralysis of the legs.

Change of Name from Nathanial to Fitz Henry Lane

He changed his name from Nathanial Rogers Lane to Fitz Henry Lane in 1831. The State of Massachusetts officially granted Lane’s own formal request to change his name from Nathaniel Rogers to Fitz Henry Lane. One of the reasons attributed to Lane’s change of his name from ‘Nathanial’ was that he wanted to differentiate himself from the well-known miniature painter ‘Nathanial Rodgers’. It was not until 2005 that historians discovered that they had been wrongly referring to the artist as ‘Fitz Hugh’, as opposed to his chosen name ‘Fitz Henry’.

His art career

Lane’s art career began in 1832 in Boston. He studied printmaking at Pendleton’s Lithography under William S. Pendleton and he continued his studies until 1837. Thereafter, he moved to Boston where he worked in a publishing firm until 1845. During this time, Lane also began painting seascapes and harbour scenes. Lane published for the first time at the Boston Athenaeum. Thereafter, he opened a lithography firm in Boston in 1844 with another artist John W.A. Scott.

Fitz Henry Lane left his firm in Boston four years later, in 1848 and returned to Gloucester, where he built a house and studio for himself and he spent the rest of his life in this studio. He travelled all along the Gloucester coastline and painted the picturesque coastline and ports of Boston, Maine, Newyork during the 1850s and early 1860s.

Luminism Style

Lane’s style of painting came to be recognised as luminism for which Martin Johnson Heade, John Frederick Kensett and a few others were well-known. Sleek and immaculate surface, an atmosphere of tranquillity, a high level of detail and, in particular, a striking effect of shimmering light were the highlights of his paintings. Lane was very active and prolific until his death in 1865. However, his reputation as an artist did not last long after his death. The art collector Maxim Karolik, who purchased most of his paintings in the 1930s and 1940s brought the artist to the limelight again. Karolik donated his collection of Lane’s paintings to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts in 1948.

Lane’s art came to the limelight after some art historians like John Wilmerding, examined his work in-depth and presented them in several large exhibitions. Thereafter, Lane came to be regarded as one of the foremost Americal painters of his generation.

Some of the well-known paintings

Some of his well-known paintingsof Lane include ‘Annisquam Marshes near Gloucester, Massachusetts (1848), ‘Approaching Storm, Owl’s Head’, 1860, ‘At the Fishing Grounds’, (1851), ‘Babson and Ellery Houses, Gloucester’, (1863), ‘The Babson Meadows at Riverdale’, (1863), ‘Bar Island and Mt. Desert Mountains from Somes Settlement’ (1850), ‘Bear Island, Northeast Harbor’, (1855), ‘Becalmed Off Halfway Rock’, (1860), ‘Boston Harbor’, (1845-50, 1850, 1856, 1854), ‘Boston Harbour, Sunset’, (1850-55), ‘Brace’s Rock’ (1864), ‘Brace’s Rock, Eastern Point, Gloucester’, (1863-64), etc.