In the mid-1890s, Homer began a series of paintings showing only water, coast, and sky. Prouts Neck, Maine, was one of the most frequently represented sites in these works. This painting was sold by Homer to Thomas B. Clarke in 1895. In 1899, the painting was returned to the artist and he reworked it by eliminating the two men who were once on the rocks at the left, and by altering the intensity of the form.

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