The Fireboat (The Resolute)

Mortimer Borne

1945

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Isadora Duncan, Abraham Walkowitz, pen and ink on paper
In his catalogue raisonné of Inness's work, Michael Quick describes the painting, writing, "On the right are two dismasted battleships, both aflame, the nearer one silhouetted by the brighter, explosive glow from the one behind it. In the rolling waves at the left, men escape in three rowboats. The conflagration lights up the foreground waves and the clouded night sky."
This painting represents a beach scene. Rocks stand on a sand bar in the middle ground, including a prominently placed arched rock at the center of the canvas. To the right of the arched rock, a woman sits on another rock within calm water and behind her appears to be the remains of a wrecked boat. Calm water spans the foreground of the painting, and distant waves are seen breaking on the ocean in the b ackground. Above the scene is a blue sky filled with distinct clouds. Touches of brown-yellow paint are also in the sky.
Jackson Heights, L. I., Alexander Zerdin Kruse, lithograph