Melon Boats on Lake Pontchartrain

This large painting of melon boats on Lake Pontchartrain was painted in the first years of Heldner's seasonal visits to New Orleans. The image of melon boats on the lake was very popular in this period before the old canals were filled between the lake and the city warehouse district. Clarence Millet also painted these boats, as one may see in a painting in this collection. Heldner is still using a vaguely European style of painting, very moody and dark with light emerging from the shadows and reflecting upon the sails of the ships.