A Marine
c. 1874–75
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
76.8 × 114.9 cm (30 1/4 × 45 1/4 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
68792
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
George Inness’s rough, energetic brushstrokes evoke the raw beauty and potentially destructive power of the ocean in this dramatic seascape. He created it during a trip to Europe in the early 1870s. It was previously thought to depict Étretat, in Normandy, France, but scholars now believe that the image is of Porto d’Anzio, Italy. The sky is illuminated by patches of orange and white light, outlining the ships and distant town on the horizon. Careful study of the surface of the central rock in t...
About the Artist
George Inness · 1825–1894
George Inness (1825–1894) was an American landscape painter regarded as one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American art, bridging the Hudson River School tradition and a more personal, spiritually-inflected vision of nature. Born near Newburgh, New York, he received limited formal training, studying briefly with Régis François Gignoux, but was largely self-taught, developing h...