De Hirsh Margules, Mother Ann Lighthouse, Eastern Point, Gloucester, 1946. Gouache on paper. Gift of Jean M. Horblit, 2002. [Acc. #2002.004.002]
Gloucester Daily Times: Rare Lane floral revived
Maritime painter’s still life hanging at Cape Ann Museum
By Gail McCarthy | May 11, 2026
A painting of a bouquet of flowers picked from a garden in the center of historic Gloucester 177 years ago is now a focal point in the Cape Ann Museum as it prepares to reopen this summer after a major, 18-month renovation.
The restored 1849 still life by the celebrated American artist Fitz Henry Lane (1804-1865) is now hung on a wall in the Lane Gallery of the museum, which is home to more than 45 of his artworks, the largest collection of Lane paintings in the world, in addition to 100 of his drawings and lithographs.
“During renovations, two Lane paintings have come back to this community,” Museum Director Oliver Barker said. “The still life is of flowers picked on Middle Street and grown in the garden of two friends of Lane, which he then painted and gifted to another friend.”
A Gloucester native, Lane is known for his detailed artworks in the Luminist style. He also was a well-known printmaker. The floral still life represents a rare departure from Lane’s plentiful maritime artworks depicting Gloucester’s bustling waterfront and harbor in the mid-19th century.
The small floral still life stands out when taking in the extraordinary seafaring and atmospheric paintings that line the walls of the large Lane Gallery.
The still life was donated to the museum by the Philip G. Lewis family, along with a letter from the original recipient thanking Lane for the gift. The letter reads: Mr. Lane, Dear Sir, … I can not find words to express to you my thanks for the beautiful picture which you have presented to me. I should have prized it for its intrinsic beauty but its value is doubly influenced by coming from one who esteemed my Father his friend. I feel greatly obliged to you for your kind offer of assistance in drawing and shall avail myself with pleasure of so favorable an opportunity to cultivate that art as soon as it is in my power. Please to accept my warmest thanks for the interest and kind feeling you have expressed towards our family. Yours with much respect Harriet P. Mason Gloucester July 23, 1849
Martha Oaks, the Henrietta Gates & Heaton Robertson chief curator, noted that Mason, in 1853, had married William Fuller Davis thus becoming Harriet Mason Davis. Her daughter Catalina Davis wrote a second note on the back of the painting, noting that the flowers were gathered in the garden of a house which stood at 44 Middle St.
The second “new” Lane painting in Cape Ann Museum’s collection, also now hanging in the Lane gallery, is “Shooting Seabirds,” a graphite and watercolor on paper painted in 1842, a gift of Jane Wyeth.
“It really is amazing for an organization to receive — as gifts — two such important works by a major 19th century American artist such as Lane in quick succession,” Oaks said. “Both were done early in Lane’s career and speak volumes of Lane’s transition from a printmaker to a painter. We received the floral still life first and thought that was early — 1849. And then to receive the watercolor —1842 — which is even earlier, really was quite remarkable. We all are truly humbled by people’s generosity.”
The cleaning of the floral painting transformed the very dark looking artwork into a bright bouquet of flowers.“It’s remarkable what the cleaning revealed, bringing out the vibrancy of color and the delicate detail of Lane’s floral depiction,” Barker said.
Cape Ann Museum is preparing to re-open its doors on Pleasant Street again this June, following a $9 million renovation of its downtown Gloucester campus.
“Our ability to better tell these rich stories of Cape Ann is going to be amplified in the new spaces,” Barker said. “I’m thrilled to share this with the community.”
Now that the construction phase is completed, museum staff has been working to repopulate the galleries with its collections and is preparing to open another ground-breaking special exhibition with “Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea,” which opens June 30. Tickets for the timed exhibition go on sale June 1.
