Untitled (moon over a harbor, wharf scene with full moon and masts of boats)

Media - 1983.95.76 - SAAM-1983.95.76_1 - 7346
Copied Edward Mitchell Bannister, Untitled (moon over a harbor, wharf scene with full moon and masts of boats), ca. 1868, oil on fiberboard, 9 5⁄8 x 15 1⁄4 in. (24.5 x 38.7 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Alan and Melvin Frank, 1983.95.76
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Untitled (moon over a harbor, wharf scene with full moon and masts of boats)
Artist
Date
ca. 1868
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
9 5⁄8 x 15 1⁄4 in. (24.5 x 38.7 cm.)
Markings
back upper right in pencil: E M Bannister back upper right in pencil: Painted by/E. M. Bannister/So Prov back lower right stamped: Property of the A. E. Club/Providence Rhode Island stretcher lower right in red felt-tipped pen and ink: 74-27-18 stretcher lower right in black felt-tipped pen and ink: 74-27-18 (scratched out) frame verso upper right in felt-tipped pen and ink: Bannister/Day frame verso lower center in pencil: H. E. Club/Providence R. I. frame verso lower left and upper right stamped: 5642 frame verso upper left in ballpoint pen and ink: ELS frame verso upper right in felt-tipped pen and ink: "Moon over a Harbor" (faded) frame verso upper center in pencil: signed on back/E. M. Bannister/So. Prov. frame verso upper right in felt-tipped pen and ink: 9 3/4" x 15 1/4" (faded)
Credit Line
Gift of H. Alan and Melvin Frank
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on fiberboard
Classifications
Keywords
  • Landscape
  • Waterscape — boat
  • Landscape — celestial — moon
  • Landscape — time — night
  • Architecture — boat — sailboat
  • Landscape — wharf
Object Number
1983.95.76
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1983.95.76

Artwork Description

Edward Mitchell Bannister lived his entire life by the sea and probably made this painting while he was living in Boston in the late 1860s. Although he never traveled abroad, Bannister was influenced by late nineteenth-century French landscape painting, which shows in his thick brushstrokes, subdued colors, and simple compositions. In this painting of a moonlit harbor, the misty colors and bleak landscape create a mysterious scene, as if Bannister had painted it in the middle of the night.