In Front of Yorktown

Artist: Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910)

ca. 1863–66

American Paintings and Sculpture

On view, 2nd floor, American Art before 1900


As an artist-correspondent for Harper’s Weekly during the Civil War, Winslow Homer accompanied General George McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign, the first major Union army offensive. Here he shows five soldiers on picket duty at night. Such small groups were sent ahead of the main camp on the dangerous mission of raising an alert if the Confederate troops advanced. Warmed by the campfire, two men sleep, while the others are lost in thought. Homer’s careful placement of the tree puts the viewer in the position of a hidden observer, silently spying on the unaware men.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

13 1/4 × 19 1/2 in. (33.6 × 49.6 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Samuel Rossiter Betts, B.A. 1875

Accession Number

1930.15

Geography

Made in Yorktown, Virginia, United States

Culture

American

Period

19th century

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Samuel Rossiter Betts (1854–1931), New York; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1930
Bibliography
  • Lucretia Hoover Giese and Roy Perkinson, "A Newly Discovered Drawing of Sharpshooters by Winslow Homer: Experience, Image , and Memory," Winterthur Portfolio 45, no. 1 (Spring 2011), 84, fig. 20
  • Helen A. Cooper et al., Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2008), 3, 73, 156–57, 324, no. 94, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

histories (visual works), military history

Subject

Army of the Potomac Peninsula Campaign [1862] Seven Days Battle [1862] armies battles campaigns campfires civil wars fires generals men military camps night sitting smoke soldiers trees uniforms wars woods

Signed

Signed twice LR "Homer"

Technical metadata and APIs

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