Fitz Henry Lane (born Nathaniel Rogers Lane; also formerly, mistakenly, known as Fitz Hugh Lane; The reasons behind Lane's decision to change his name, and for choosing the name he did, are still unclear; one suggestion is that he did it "to differentiate himself from the well-known miniature painter Nathaniel Rodgers".
From the time of his birth, Lane was exposed to the sea and maritime life, a factor that had a great impact on his later choice of subject matter. Many circumstances of his young life ensured Lane's constant interaction with various aspects of this maritime life, including the fact that Lane's family lived "upon the periphery of Gloucester Harbor's working waterfront," and that his father, Jonathan Dennison Lane, was a sailmaker, and quite possibly owned and ran a sail loft. It is often speculated that Lane would most likely have pursued some seafaring career, or become a sail-maker like his father, instead of an artist, had it not been for a lifelong handicap Lane developed as a child.
Although the cause is unknown with certainty, it is thought that the ingestion of some part of the Peru-Apple, a poisonous weed also known as jimsonweed, by Lane at the age of eighteen months caused the paralysis of the legs from which Lane would never recover. It has been suggested by art historian James A. Craig that, because he could not play games as the other children did, he was forced to find some other means of amusement, and that in such a pursuit he discovered and was able to develop his talent for drawing.
Lane acquired such lessons by way of his employment at Pendleton's Lithography shop in Boston, which lasted from 1832 to 1847. With the refinement and development of his artistic skills acquired during his years working as a lithographer, Lane was able to successfully produce marine paintings of high quality, as evidenced in his being listed, officially, as a "marine painter" in the Boston Almanac of 1840. Lane continued to refine his painting style, and consequently, the demand for his marine paintings increased as well.
Lane had visited Gloucester often while living in Boston, and in 1848, he returned permanently. In 1849, Lane began overseeing construction of a house/studio of his own design on Duncan's Point, now called Fitz Henry Lane House, which remained his primary residence to the end of his life. Fitz Henry Lane continued to produce marine paintings and seascapes into his later years.
Death
He died in his home on Duncan's Point on August 14, 1865, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.
Training and influences
[[File:Bowdoin College 1845.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., lithograph by Fitz Henry Lane, c. 1845]]
However ambiguous many aspects of Lane's life and career may remain, a few things are certain. First, Lane was, even in childhood, clearly gifted in the field of art. As was noted by J. Babson, a local Gloucester historian and contemporary in Lane's time, Lane "showed in boyhood a talent for drawing and painting; but received no instruction in the rules till he went to Boston." and that this was evidenced by Lane's balancing of what Novak describes as the "contributions of the primitive and the graphic traditions to his art",
Legacy
Other findings have shed new light onto not only Lane's artistic process but have also revealed him to have been a staunch social reformer, particularly within the American temperance movement. As well, the long-held suspicion that Lane was a transcendentalist has been confirmed, and it has been uncovered that he was also a Spiritualist. Sensational claims that Lane was "a somewhat saddened and introspective figure … often prone to moodiness with friends", and that his existence was one of "quiet loneliness", have been proven fallacious with the full quotation of the testimony of John Trask, a patron, friend, and next door neighbor of the artist, who states that Lane "was always hard at work and had no moods in his work. Always pleasant and genial with visitors. He was unmarried having had no romance. He was always a favorite and full of fun. He liked evening parties and was fond of getting up tableaux."
Long believed to have given instruction to only one artist during his career—the local artist, Mary Blood Mellen—it has now been established that Lane was the instructor and mentor to several other artists, most importantly Benjamin Champney and America's other great 19th century marine painter, William Bradford.
A contemporary of the Hudson River School, he enjoyed a reputation as America's premier painter of marine subjects during his lifetime, but fell into obscurity soon after his death with the rise of French Impressionism. Lane's work would be rediscovered in the 1930s by the art collector Maxim Karolik, after which his art steadily grew in popularity among private collectors and public institutions. His work can now command at auction prices ranging as high as three to five million dollars.
The largest collection of his work is currently held by the Wallace Family of Boston, Massachusetts where his work is on display throughout their family offices, private homes, and estates.
Artworks
thumb|Ship in Fog, Gloucester Harbor, ca. 1860, [[Princeton University Art Museum]]
- The Burning of the Packet Ship "Boston", 1830, watercolor, view
- View of the Town of Gloucester, Mass, 1836, lithograph, view
- Steamer Brittania in a Gale, 1842, oil on canvas, Boston, view
- Gloucester Harbor from Rocky Neck, 1844, Cape Ann Museum Collection, view
- St. Johns, Porto Rico, ca 1850, The Mariners' Museum, view
- Gloucester Inner Harbor, 1850, The Mariners' Museum view
- The Fishing Party, 1850, view
- The Golden State Entering New York Harbor, 1854, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Stage Rocks and Western Shore of Gloucester Outer Harbor, 1857, oil on canvas, John Wilmerding Collection, view
- Ship in Fog, Gloucester Harbor, ca. 1860, Princeton University Art Museum
- The Western Shore with Norman's Woe, 1862, Cape Ann Museum Collection, view
- Stage Fort across Gloucester Harbor, 1862, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, view
- Gloucester Harbor at Sunrise, 1863, Cape Ann Museum Collection, view
- Clipper Ship "Sweepstakes", 1853, Museum of the City of New York Collection, view
- Ships Passing in Rough Seas, 1856, Private Collection, view
- Lumber Schooners at Evening in Penobscot Bay, 1860, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC view
- View of Coffin's Beach, 1862, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, view
- El fuerte y la isla Ten Pound, Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1847, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, view
- Boston Harbor- Boston Museum of Fine Arts
- Boston Harbor, 1856, oil on canvas, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, http://www.cartermuseum.org/artworks/254
- Camden Mountains from the Southwest Entrance to the Harbor, 1859, oil on canvas, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine view
- Owl's Head Light, 1856, oil on canvas, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine view
- Penobscot Bay from Southwest Chamber Window, 1850, oil on canvas, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, [https://www.fitzhenrylaneonline.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=210] view]
- Shipping in Down East Waters 1854, oil on canvas, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine,view
- The Residence of Dr. Joseph L. Stevens, Castine, Maine,oil on canvas, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, view
- The Fishing Party, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,view
Exhibitions
- "American Masters from Bingham to Eakins: The John Wilmerding Collection", The National Gallery of Art, May 9 – October 10, 2004
- "Works of Fitz Henry Lane", Cape Ann Museum, Permanent Collection (this is also the largest collection of Lane paintings in the world) [http://www.capeannmuseum.org/collections/artists/fitz-henry-lane/]
- "Coming of Age: American, 1850s to 1950s". Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts (September 9, 2006 – January 7, 2007); Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (March 14 – June 8, 2008); Meadows Museum of Art, Dallas (November 30 – February 24, 2008); Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (June 27 – October 12, 2008)