Fitz H. Lane by James A. Craig

Author:James A. Craig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Another Lyceum comrade with whom Lane would keep company with was Dr. Herman Davidson. Serving at different times as a director and corresponding secretary of the Gloucester Lyceum, we know from Edward Lane that “almost every Sunday, weather permitting,” Lane would pay a visit to Dr. Davidson at his home. He would also produce several paintings for the doctor and his wife, including the stunning View of Coffin’s Beach, 1862 [plate 29]. Perhaps the most significant indication as to how close these two men were is encountered when pondering the falling out between Fitz Henry Lane, his sister Sarah and her husband Ignatius. For of all the friends, clients and associates Lane could have turned to while in the midst of his familial quarrel, it was under the roof of Dr. and Mrs. Davidson that he would temporarily reside.

If there is any one individual who can claim the distinction of having been Lane’s closest, truest friend, that honor must fall to Mr. Joseph L. Stevens Jr. A resident of Gloucester and Castine, Maine, Stevens managed a dry-goods business while alternately pursuing an interest in cultural and artistic affairs. As a member of the Gloucester Lyceum Stevens functioned as the recording secretary from 1847 straight on through to 1852 (and possibly far longer, though we cannot be certain as the Lyceum’s records possess gaps after 1852).

In a letter to Samuel Mansfield, Stevens reveals the nature of his relationship with Lane:

Boston, Oct. 17, 1903

Dear Mr. Mansfield

…Lane was much my senior and yet we gradually drifted together. Our earliest approach to friendship was after his abode began in Elm Street as an occupant of the old Prentiss house, moved there from Pleasant. I was a frequenter of his studio to a considerable extent, yet little compared with my intimacy at the next and last in the new stone house on the hill. Lane’s art books and magazines were always at my service and a great inspiration and delight—notably the London Art Journal to which he long subscribed…

Lane was frequently in Boston, his sales agent being Balch who was at the head of his guild in those days. So in my Boston visits—I was led to Balch’s fairly often—the resort of many artists and the depot of their works. Thus through Lane in various ways I was long in touch with the art world, not only of New England but of New York and Philadelphia. I knew of most picture exhibits and saw many. The coming of the Dusseldorf Gallery to Boston was an event to fix itself in one’s memory for all time. What talks of all these things Lane and I had in his studio and by my fireside!

For long series of years I knew nearly every painting he made. I was with him on several trips to the Maine coast where he did much sketching, and sometimes was was [sic] his chooser of spots and bearer of materials when he sketched in the home neighborhood. Thus there are many paintings whose growth I saw both from the brush and pencil.

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