oil on canvas · c. 1882 · h. veller
hung in the corridor near the window that opens onto nothing in particular. the sea in the painting is not the sea outside; the house is too far inland for that. but the room has, for as long as anyone remembers, been called the sea-room.
veller painted this on a summer commission and signed it without much conviction. there is a small white sail on the horizon. several visitors have insisted the sail moves. the custodian has begun keeping a small ledger of the times it has been seen in different places.
field-note the gulls were added later, in a different hand. they are wrong for the light. they have not been removed.