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Seascape drawing of a wave crashing on rocks with a stormy sky.

In the center a wave curls over revealing its light green color. On the left and right the wave has crashed upon rocks sending up sea spray. Sea foam covers the flatter rocks in the foreground. The dark sky is drawn in greys, cold blues, varying from dark to light. Our viewpoint is from standing on the shore with the waves in front of us. The ocean is seen beyond the wave, in greens and blues, blending into the stormy sky. Signed in the lower left.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1961.97
People
John Appleton Brown, American (W. Newbury, MA 1844 - 1902 New York, NY)
Title
Stormy Seascape
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1880s
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/308562

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Pastel on brown paperboard
Dimensions
35.6 x 45.6 cm (14 x 17 15/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: graphite, l.l.: Prof J K Paine / From J. Appleton Brown
  • stamp: verso, purple ink, stamped: EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DE 1855 / MENTION HONORABLE / PAPIER, CARTON, CHASSIS, TOILES / ANTI-PONCE pour le PASTEL / P.L. Breveté PARIS / MARQUE DÉPOSÉE [Craigen Bowen of Paper Conservation notes that the Honorable Mention referred to here was won by the paper itself, not the drawing]
  • stamp: verso, purple ink: 20

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Professor John Knowles Paine; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; transferred to the Fogg Art Museum, 1961.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Transfer from Harvard University Collection
Accession Year
1961
Object Number
1961.97
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Susan Faxon, Alice Downey, and Peter Bermingham, A Stern and Lovely Scene: A Visual History of the Isles of Shoals, exh. cat., University Art Galleries, University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH, 1978), fig. 1, checklist p. 137
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 55, cat. no. 29

Exhibition History

  • A Stern and Lovely Scene: A Visual History of the Isles of Shoals, University Art Galleries, University of New Hampshire, Durham, 03/13/1978 - 04/20/1978

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu