A Game of Croquet, 1866
Oil on canvas, 19 x 30 in. (60.3 x 87.9 cm)
Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A. 1903
1961.18.25
During the 1860s Homer undertook the earliest sustained treatment of croquet to appear in fine art. His interest in the game coincided with the appearance of illustrated rule books heralding the transfer of the game from England to the United States. Contemporary commentators endorsed croquet as a socially approved physical activity for women, who had few other opportunities to exercise both body and mind in the open air, in public, and in mixed company. It could be played with equal facility by men and women, skill and ingenuity being much more important to success than mere physical strength. The young woman in blue is probably Homer's cousin Florence. The woman in red seems about to strike her own ball so that it hits another and gains her a point. The intended victim of the shot calmly adjusts her hat while waiting her turn.
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