Minneapolis Institute of Art

Plum Island, Newburyport, Massachusetts

Howard Russell Butler

Date

c. 1888

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Trained as a physicist before turning to painting, Butler established a professional reputation not only for his luminous seascapes and landscapes, but also his efforts to scientifically document and represent various stages of solar eclipses, including the 1918 eclipse that was visible across much of the United States. This tranquil coastal landscape exemplifies his approach as a painter, which drew inspiration from French Barbizon styles popular in the late nineteenth century. Beneath a leaning tree with a wide canopy, a lone figure and an accompanying dog walk along a dirt path, moving toward a large expanse of water in the distance, likely Plum Island Sound. The sky is filled with pale clouds tinged with warm light, stretching over low distant hills on the far horizon line. Americas

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