Long Island Sound

James Sherwood Pitkin

America, 1843-1914

Watercolor on paper

9.75 x 14 in.

Mori and Jacobson Collection

James Sherwood Pitkin was from a wealthy family which traced its ancestry from colonial Connecticut. Although his primary career was as a banker, as well as the manager of the family’s assets, Pitkin appears to have been an amateur painter. He was married to Louisa Sherman Pitkin (1843-1887), and their son, James Sherman Pitkin (1880-1950), received this watercolor as a gift from his father when he entered Harvard University in 1899.

Long Island Sound, shown in this watercolor, is a body of water separating the northern shore of Long Island, New York from the southern shore of Connecticut. A dealer’s label attached to the picture explains that the view is from Hotchkiss Cove looking southward across from Connecticut toward the Thimble Islands, which can be seen along the horizon. These islands are an archipelago of about 365 islands, most of them small and uninhabited. Some of the larger ones, however, have homes built by wealthy families, often as summer residences, and possibly the Pitkin family had one of these large homes or they may have owned an entire island. Therefore, this view of the Thimbles, likely held significance for both the artist and his son.