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We look across a dark, aquamarine-blue body of water at a bulky, stony outcropping to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition, and the sky above is pale blue, lightening to almost white along the horizon. Close to us, gentle waves break over rocks and boulders along the beach. The face of the rocky outcropping to our right rises vertically from the water and is tan and caramel brown, with some dark green vegetation growing in its crevasses. At its foot, down by the water, a lone fisherman with a pole stands on a rock casting his line. He wears a red shirt and brown pants, and is tiny in scale next to the rock formation. Farther in the distance, to our left along the horizon, a spring-green spit of land extends into the water. White boats with full sails are visible in the distance. One boat is silhouetted against a far, sunbathed shore.
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We look across a dark, aquamarine-blue body of water at a bulky, stony outcropping to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition, and the sky above is pale blue, lightening to almost white along the horizon. Close to us, gentle waves break over rocks and boulders along the beach. The face of the rocky outcropping to our right rises vertically from the water and is tan and caramel brown, with some dark green vegetation growing in its crevasses. At its foot, down by the water, a lone fisherman with a pole stands on a rock casting his line. He wears a red shirt and brown pants, and is tiny in scale next to the rock formation. Farther in the distance, to our left along the horizon, a spring-green spit of land extends into the water. White boats with full sails are visible in the distance. One boat is silhouetted against a far, sunbathed shore.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

Beacon Rock, Newport Harbor

John Frederick Kensett

Date
1857
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 57.2 x 91.4 cm (22 1/2 x 36 in.) framed: 85.7 x 119.4 x 10.2 cm (33 3/4 x 47 x 4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
1953.1.1
Credit line
Gift of Frederick Sturges, Jr.
Time span
1851 to 1875
Department
CAB
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • American
  • United States
  • landscape
  • Romantic
  • Harbor
  • American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I [A-L]
  • RI
  • Newport
Provenance

Possibly Jonathan Sturges [1802-1874], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut;[1] his son, Frederick Sturges [d. 1917], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut; his son, Frederick Sturges, Jr. [1876-1977], Fairfield, Connecticut; gift 1953 to NGA. [1] According to Frederick Sturges, Jr. (letter of 18 January 1966 in NGA curatorial files), the picture was "painted for my grandfather Jonathan Sturges." Letters of 27 August and 7 December 1981 from Frederick Sturges III (in NGA curatorial files) state that family tradition held that all paintings in the Sturges collection were originally purchased by Jonathan Sturges. In this and four other instances (see Casilear, _View on Lake George_ [1978.6.1]; Durand, _Forest in the Morning Light_ and _A Pastoral Scene_ [1978.6.2 and 1978.6.3]; and Kensett, _Beach at Beverly_ [1978.6.5]) no certain evidence establishes ownership by Jonathan Sturges. No works by Kensett are mentioned in the discussions of the Jonathan Sturges collection in "Our Private Collections, No. II," The Crayon 3, February 1856, 57-58; Thomas S. Cummings, _Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design (1825-1863)_, Philadelphia, 1865: 141 (reprint, New York, 1965); or Henry T. Tuckerman, _Book of the Artists_, New York, 1867: 627 (reprint, New York, 1967). Kensett's account book has an entry in 1857 for a Newport Scene sold for $300, which may refer to the National Gallery painting (letter of 26 July 1965 from Ellen H. Johnson, in NGA curatorial files); however, the name of the purchaser is not listed, making it impossible to verify this assumption.

Inscription

lower right, JF in ligature: JF.K. 57

NGA object ID 42389. 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.