Nantucket Sand Dune

C. Morgan McIlhenney, born Philadelphia, PA 1858-died 1904 · ca. 1890

This painting was originally attributed to Abbott Handerson Thayer, but closer study reveals it to be by Philadelphia artist Charles Morgan McIlhenney. McIlhenney exhibited a few times at the Boston Art Club and spent time sketching on Nantucket, probably in the late 1880s. Many painters in the late nineteenth century went on sketching trips to New England, creating images of the unsheltered beaches and picturesque towns along the coast. The dark clouds in this oil sketch emphasize the bright sandy slopes and, together with the windswept vegetation, create a haunting view of the Atlantic shore.