SCARBOROUGH, Maine — The Portland Museum of Art has purchased the land around the Winslow Homer Studio in Scarborough, protecting the artist's view from development.
The sale, for $2.3 million, closed Aug. 29.
The museum placed a conservation easement on the property and donated the easement to the Scarborough Land Trust, which will enforce it.
Museum director Mark Bessire tells the Portland Press Herald the deal ensures that the view Homer enjoyed when he lived at the studio during the final 27 years of his life will remain unchanged. Homer died in 1910.
Land trust board member Jeremy Wintersteen called the studio and surrounding land "the crown jewel of Scarborough, the crown jewel of the state of Maine and the crown jewel of the United States in terms of our artistic heritage."