A member of the Gloucester Society of Artists and the North Shore Association, Pancoast gained recognition for his impressionist views of Cape Ann, Gloucester and Rockport. He had received training at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from Thomas Anshutz and continued his studies in Paris. He maintained a studio in New York in the 1920s and traveled through Maine, Massachusetts and Florida selling antiques. This colorful vista of Gloucester positions the viewer high above the harbor, at eye level with the soaring masts of the docked ships below.