Frank M. Costantino

"Orange Street Church, Nantucket"

watercolor, 13"x10.25", SOLD

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"Painted on island over the course of two mornings, this plein-air watercolor of Nantucket 's historic Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 11 Orange Street , captures the iconic profile of its golden domed steeple.  A beautiful timber, wood-clad building built in 1809, the church is the oldest and grandest edifice on Nantucket .  With a tower over 109 feet, and its clock and bells stroking the hours 156 times each day, it is visible (and audible) from nearly everywhere in the downtown area, while also serving as a navigational mark from the harbor. The Church's tower and facade presented an intriguing composition as a dynamic vertical culmination to the narrow descending road leading down to Main Street .  The rich multiplicity of textures and profiles of the house fronts, roofs, and cars, together with the steeple's details, were counter- balanced and contrasted by the foliage of the huge street tree framing the scene.  The painting conveys a picturesque view seen by innumerable strollers, who enjoy the environs of a historic New England island."