The “storm-tossed boat” is one of the classic motifs of Romantic art, and was frequently depicted by artists such as Robert Salmon and J. M. W. Turner. Lane’s first known painting was a watercolor, The Burning of the Packet Ship “Boston,” 1830 (see photo). The image of a ship in peril evoked themes of the “voyage of life” and its risks and opportunities. Art historian Barbara Novak links Lane to the Transcendentalists of New England: “I have always held that Lane is the painter whose works best parallel many of Emerson’s most deeply felt dicta. He is the American Transcendental painter…. ‘It is not words only that are emblematic,’ Emerson wrote in Nature, ‘it is things which are emblematic. Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.’”

The storm has passed in this painting, and the pink-tinged sky of the sunset promises better weather. The massive waves and dramatic rocking tilt of the ship attest to the force of nature. Lane’s harbor scenes denote peace and tranquility, but the open sea represents a sublime power that challenges sailors and their ships. The painting could also be a metaphor for a person transcending internal emotional turmoil.