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

Edward Mitchell Bannister, Untitled (moon over a harbor, wharf scene with full moon and masts of boats), ca. 1868, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Alan and Melvin Frank, 1983.95.76
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.)
Credit Line
Gift of H. Alan and Melvin Frank
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on fiberboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — time — night
  • Architecture — boat — sailboat
  • Landscape — wharf
  • Landscape — celestial — moon
  • Waterscape — boat
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.