The U.States ship of the line Ohio Drawn & Published by F.H. Lane

by LANE, Fitz Henry (1804-65, artist and publisher)

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Book Description

[N.p. but Boston]: FH Lane, [n.d. but circa 1837-1845]. Tinted lithograph by Lane, printed by John C. Sharp. Two large expertly repaired tears. Image area: 10 1/4 x 14 3/4 inches. Sheet size: 12 x 15 3/4 inches. A very rare and beautifully-rendered image of the greatest American battleship of her era, the "Ohio". This work is recorded, but not as being by Fitz Henry Lane and is therefore an unrecorded addition to Lane's canon of lithographic work. The Ohio was built in the New York Navy Yard and launched in 1820. "When completed, the Ohio was regarded as the finest ship in the American Navy. She spread nearly two acres of canvas and carried a crew of 1000 men. Most of her active service was spent on the European station and in the Pacific, her best known commander being Commodore Isaac Hull..." (India House p.104). The Ohio was re-constituted after her service in Europe and off the coast of Africa (suppressing the slave trade) and went to Mexico during the Mexican War. She participated in the Tuxpan River Expedition in 1847. Fitz Henry Lane (also known, mistakenly, as Fitz Hugh Lane) was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He was christened Nathaniel Rogers Lane, but for reasons that are now unknown changed his name legally in 1831 to Fitz Henry. At the relatively late age of 28, he moved to Boston and apprenticed himself to the lithographer William S. Pendleton, and from 1832 to about 1848 worked at establishing himself as both a lithographer and marine landscape painter. Lane remained with Pendleton from 1832 to 1837, he then joined the newly formed company of Keith and Moore. The imprint of the present print suggests that it was published after he had completed his apprenticeship with Pendleton but before 1845 when Lane opened his own lithographic shop in partnership with marine painter John W. A. Scott: a business arrangement that continued through summer of 1848, when Lane moved back to Gloucester. He remained in his home town for the rest of his life, a popular and successful marine painter and lithographic print maker, but his reputation languished after his death in 1865. A re-evaluation of his accomplishments as an artist only began in the mid-20th century, a process that continues today. It is only in the last twenty years that the unique qualities of Lane's lithographic work have been appreciated: as in his paintings, his prints display sensitivity to gradations of light and a refined draughtsmanship that is virtually unique among 19th-century American lithographers. These traits are all to the fore in the present image: Lane manages to suggest the solidity of the Ohio by his use of variable shading along the length of her sides, while the bow wave and the wake from the stern also make it clear that she is moving at some speed, in light winds, under full canvas. The three other carefully observed and placed ships give a sense of scale to the view. The choppy off-shore waters are beautifully depicted as are the unthreatening clouds. This print is evidently extremely rare: this is the India House copy and is described in their 1935 catalogue, but with no mention of Lane. No other copies have surfaced and it has therefore not been recorded in any of the works on Lane. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Marine Collection to be found at India House (New York: 1935) item number 346 (entry does not mention F.H. Lane)

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