Goodwin renders the figures engaged in commercial activity on Long Wharf as a collective unit. The specific people and type of activity are not important in this rapid impression; rather, the collective sum of this hustle-and-bustle predominates the scene. Since colonial times, Boston Harbor had served as an important locus of maritime trade, and contemporary photographs of the pier demonstrate the crowded chaos of daily commerce. Despite the glut of activity, Goodwin still somewhat idealizes the space of the harbor. As the photo from 1914 shows, the area in and around Long Wharf was much more crowded with ships, people, and harbor buildings than depicted in the painting. Viewers thus necessarily take in the beauty of the ships and the skyline before they notice the commercial activity of the pier, relegated to the canvas’s bottom-right.

Goodwin renders the figures engaged in commercial activity on Long Wharf as a collective unit. The specific people and type of activity are not important in this rapid impression; rather, the collective sum of this hustle-and-bustle predominates the scene. Since colonial times, Boston Harbor had served as an important locus of maritime trade, and contemporary photographs of the pier demonstrate the crowded chaos of daily commerce. Despite the glut of activity, Goodwin still somewhat idealizes the space of the harbor. As the photo from 1914 shows, the area in and around Long Wharf was much more crowded with ships, people, and harbor buildings than depicted in the painting. Viewers thus necessarily take in the beauty of the ships and the skyline before they notice the commercial activity of the pier, relegated to the canvas’s bottom-right.

Goodwin renders the figures engaged in commercial activity on Long Wharf as a collective unit. The specific people and type of activity are not important in this rapid impression; rather, the collective sum of this hustle-and-bustle predominates the scene. Since colonial times, Boston Harbor had served as an important locus of maritime trade, and contemporary photographs of the pier demonstrate the crowded chaos of daily commerce. Despite the glut of activity, Goodwin still somewhat idealizes the space of the harbor. As the photo from 1914 shows, the area in and around Long Wharf was much more crowded with ships, people, and harbor buildings than depicted in the painting. Viewers thus necessarily take in the beauty of the ships and the skyline before they notice the commercial activity of the pier, relegated to the canvas’s bottom-right.

Boston Harbor had served as an important locus of maritime trade, and contemporary photographs of the pier demonstrate the crowded chaos of daily commerce. Despite the glut of activity, Goodwin still somewhat idealizes the space of the harbor. As the photo from 1914 shows, the area in and around Long Wharf was much more crowded with ships, people, and harbor buildings than depicted in the painting. Viewers thus

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