Newburyport Meadows
Dark rainclouds give way to sunrays that cast variations of sunlight and shadow across Heade’s depiction of a New England marshland. Salt marshes are complex ecosystems and vital habitats that supply salt and fish, filter pollution, and buffer against coastal erosion. Historically, they also supported the cultivation of hay as in the harvest depicted here. Like the transient weather above, these coastal wetlands are unstable and fluctuating as they flood and drain with the tide. Fascinated by these shifting landscapes, Heade returned to the subject of salt hay harvests frequently between the 1860s and 1880s.
Artwork Details
- Title: Newburyport Meadows
- Artist: Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)
- Date: ca. 1876–81
- Culture: American
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 10 1/2 x 22 in. (26.7 x 55.9 cm)
- Credit Line: Purchase, Mrs. Samuel P. Reed Gift, Morris K. Jesup Fund, Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, John Osgood and Elizabeth Amis Cameron Blanchard Memorial Fund and Gifts of Robert E. Tod and William Gedney Bunce, by exchange, 1985
- Object Number: 1985.117
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)
Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)
1875
Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)
ca. 1875–85
Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)
1859
Mary Cassatt (American, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1844–1926 Le Mesnil-Théribus, Oise)
1880
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