Ten Pound Island, Gloucester

Ten Pound Island, Gloucester exemplifies Francis Augustus Silva’s interest in moments of transient light on the borders between night and day, as well in the fleeting, subtly dramatic effects of color, atmosphere, and emotion. The painting shows the outer harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts, viewed from the west as the full moon rises over the low mass of Ten Pound Island, and a bank of pink clouds, which outshines the island’s lighthouse and the distant lights of the town beyond. Both the lighthouse and the moon cast beacons of light across the shining water, broken by gently lapping waves that wash across the smooth surface of the beach. The open, horizontal composition harmonizes with the peaceful image of ships at anchor or gliding gently to harbor. The scene is bathed in glowing color and shimmering light. Such features are typical of what modern scholars have dubbed “luminism,” an emphasis on expressive light in the scenes of coasts and waterways that proliferated in American landscape painting of the 1860s and 1870s.

By the end of the Civil War, railroad transport was transforming old New England towns such as Gloucester. Formerly dedicated to the fishing industry, it drew increasing numbers of tourists, including many artists, charmed both by its picturesque scenery and by its associations with a rapidly disappearing traditional way of life. Gloucester and its harbor and islands were already celebrated in the paintings of the town’s most famous resident artist, Fitz Henry Lane, whose Gloucester Harbor (TF1993.21) is also in the Terra Foundation’s collection. Silva’s painting, despite its topographic specificity, minimizes port and harbor almost to invisibility in the far distance. The real subject of this romantic image is the moon: placed nearly at the exact center of the composition, its silvery light saturates the scene. Ten Pound Island, Gloucester is one of several paintings in which Silva draws a parallel between natural beacons—the sun or moon—and their man-made equivalents. This analogy may be Silva’s symbolic reference to the spiritual regeneration of the nation in the wake of the trauma of the Civil War.

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 1993.

Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900 (Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]

Permanent collection installation, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 9, 2000–February 11, 2001.

Ships at Sea: Sailing Through Summer, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 6–August 26, 2001.

American Classics: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 26–April 15, 2002.

Francis A. Silva (1835–1886): In His Own Light, Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (organizer). Venue: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, April 15–June 28, 2002. [exh. cat.]

American Classics from the Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 14–June 15, 2003.

American Classics, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 13, 2003–February 8, 2004.

Expanded Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 2005–September 2023.

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-47, p. 156 (color).

Ten Pound Island, Gloucester, Francis A. Silva. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 1993. Ill. (black & white).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 16, 28; fig. 8, p. 16 (black & white).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 16, 28; fig. 8, p. 16 (black & white).

Mitchell, Mark D. Francis Silva: In His Own Light. (exh. cat., Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc.). New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 2002. Text pp. 31, 127 (checklist); ill. p. 16 (color detail), pl. 12, p. 78 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 72, 204; ill. pp. 73 (color), 204 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 72, 204; ill. pp. 73 (color), 204 (black & white).