AFA Summer 2021

Summer 84 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com Bertonccini’s vision of the remote American whaling station at Herschel Island, off the north coast of Canada’s Yukon, reflects a navigator’s vision of the rigors of life. He lays out activities as on a sea chart, floating amid an otherwise white and featureless field that highlights the stark bitterness of the locale. Hundreds of men, some traveling with families, made the long voyage around Alaska, intentionally freezing their ships into the ice to pass the winter there to avoid a lengthy seasonal round trip. While frozen in, they held concerts, theatricals, and sporting events. Bertonccini said, “Imagine baseball at 50 below zero, played by moonlight, with the players in fur uniforms!” A typical ship portrait, like that of a person, is a carefully constructed composition with common features. A vessel is placed in a specific situation, and artistic skill combines with nautical accuracy to document maritime culture in a distinctive way. In that tradition, Lane captures the characteristic details of the clipper Southern Cross built for the California gold rush. By showing the ship at a slight angle and highlighting the naturalistic setting of Boston Harbor, he brings to the fore a marine backdrop resembling one that might be seen in the portrait of a ship captain. Fitz Henry Lane (1804–1865), Southern Cross in Boston Harbor, 1851. Oil on canvas, 25¼ × 38 inches. Peabody Essex Museum; Gift of Stephen Wheatland, 1987 (M18639). © 2020 Peabody Essex Museum. Photography by Kathy Tarantola. John Bertonccini (1872–1947), Whaling vessels in the Ice, Herschel Island, about 1894–1895. Oil on canvas, 18 × 31 inches. Peabody Essex Museum; Purchase with funds donated by the Maritime Art and History Visiting Committee (2019.33.1). © 2020 Peabody Essex Museum. Photography by Kathy Tarantola.