# Near Newport

- By: John Frederick Kensett (American, 1816–1872)
- Date: 1869
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 29.5 × 62.4 cm (11 5/8 × 24 1/4 in.)
- Culture: Newport
- Credit line: Friends of American Art Collection; Goodman Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109228)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/50f98ea2-ea74-d991-b2fc-ddbc616283bd/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In this late work, John Frederick Kensett portrayed the Rhode Island coast with spare, yet meticulous forms suffused with light and quietude. A solitary female figure seated at right almost goes unnoticed amid the long, horizontal bands of earth and water. It is the expansive sky that dominates the composition, suggestive of a spiritual force in nature. Kensett, who first trained as an engraver, applied draftsman’s precision to his paintings of the American landscape. Near Newport hints at the tourist activities that would come to define the town in the late 19th century, with couples walking along the distant shore and bathing tents dotting the horizon.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0