Ten Pound Island Gloucester 1886

James Craig Nicoll created this aquatint etching titled ‘Ten Pound Island Gloucester’. Nicoll, born in New York City, was a marine painter, who spent much of his time painting scenes in the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire, and along the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts. This artwork invites us to consider the maritime culture and its representation in the late 19th century. We can see a depiction of a coastal scene, where the sea meets the shore under a dramatic sky. There is a lighthouse standing guard in the distance, and sailboats dot the horizon. The sea, illuminated by a band of moonlight, evokes a sense of the sublime, as well as the isolation and the often dangerous lives of sailors and fishermen. Nicoll’s position as a landscape painter allowed him to reflect on the relationship between humanity and nature, and in this image he communicates the emotional weight carried by those who depend on the sea for their livelihoods.