Newburyport Meadows
Artist: Martin Johnson Heade (American, 1819–1904)
Original Dimensions: 10 1/2" x 22"
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
About Artwork: (ca. 1876–81) "Dark rainclouds give way to sunrays that cast variations of sunlight and shadow across Heade’s depiction of a New England marshland. Salt marshes are complex ecosystems and vital habitats that supply salt and fish, filter pollution, and buffer against coastal erosion. Historically, they also supported the cultivation of hay as in the harvest depicted here. Like the transient weather above, these coastal wetlands are unstable and fluctuating as they flood and drain with the tide. Fascinated by these shifting landscapes, Heade returned to the subject of salt hay harvests frequently between the 1860s and 1880s." - (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

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