
Read the visual description
This painting shows a seascape with sailboats and ships on the water. On the left is a small boat with its sails tied and several people aboard. A larger ship with unfurled sails and an American flag is in the center. On the right is the tallest sailing ship, with billowing white sails and a red-and-white flag atop its masts. There are more boats visible in the distance to the left and right, and they all have people faintly visible on their decks. The horizon is low against the sky, revealing a distant shoreline with buildings and trees on the left. The color palette is warm and muted, with soft browns, creams, and grays dominating the scene. The ocean below is a gray-green color with small waves, and the sky above is cloudy and gray.
National Gallery of Art · Painting
Boston Harbor
Robert Salmon
- Date
- 1843
- Medium
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- overall: 42.07 × 61.6 cm (16 9/16 × 24 1/4 in.) framed: 59.69 × 79.38 × 5.08 cm (23 1/2 × 31 1/4 × 2 in.)
- Classification
- Painting
- Accession number
- 2015.19.77
- Credit line
- Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase and exchange, through the gift of Orme Wilson, 1955)
- Time span
- 1826 to 1850
- Department
- CAB
Subjects and terms
- painted surface
- American
- Acquired after publication of American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II [M-Z]
- ship
- Boston Harbor
- landscape
Provenance
Private collection; sold March 1955 through (Victor D. Spark, New York) to the Corcoran Gallery of Art; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.
Inscription
reverse: R.S.A.T. / by R. Salmon [obscured] / 1843 / 1837 [crossed out]
NGA object ID 177986. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.