photo #8814557

Nineteenth-century American painter James Hamilton captured the busy toing and froing of sailing vessels near an unnamed harbour in this blustery scene. The Altocumulus stratiformis undulatus cloud that stretches as a rippling mid-level layer across the whole sky is punctured here and there by crepuscular rays, where shafts of sunlight have managed to pierce through the gaps.Untitled (Harbor Scene) (c. 1855-75) by James Hamilton is in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, US.