Attributed Harrison Bird Brown, Surf on Rocky Coast, Antique Oil on Paper

Surf breaking white against a red headland, the sea fog held in the bare paper — a vigorous little Maine marine attributed to Portland's leading 19th-century painter.

A vigorous coastal marine in oil on paper, attributed to Harrison Bird Brown (American, 1831–1915), Portland, Maine's leading nineteenth-century marine painter. Surf breaks against a red-brown headland, the rock built in structured knife and brush work, the sea in translucent greens with scumbled foam, the warm tone of the paper left to carry the fog. The attribution rests on seller documentation and a period verso label from the collection of F.M. O'Brien, the noted Portland antiquarian bookseller, reading "oil on paper by Harrison Brown"; the verso also records cleaning and mounting by conservator Morton C. Bradley, Arlington, Mass., 1981. Indistinctly signed lower left. 13.5x11, in a giltwood frame.

Professionally cleaned and mounted by conservator Morton C. Bradley (Arlington, Mass.) in 1981 per verso label; the paper is laid down and stable, in a gilt frame with scattered wear and losses. The signature is present but abraded and not independently legible.