Home, Sweet Home

c. 1863

Winslow Homer

Painter, American, 1836 - 1910

In a camp, two soldiers wearing blue uniforms are lost in thought as they listen to a military band playing music in the background in this vertical painting. Their uniforms consist of midnight-blue jackets, stone-blue pants, and flat-topped, brimmed hats. Brass buttons line the open fronts of their jackets, and a gold-colored emblem is affixed to the tops of their caps. One soldier, at the center of the painting, stands facing our left in profile with one hand on his hip. Another, to our right, sits in front of a tent, also looking to our left. The seated soldier’s knees are spread wide. One hand rests on at least two pieces of paper on his thigh, and he rests his chin in the other hand, also propped on his thigh. A low, triangular tent, about waist-high, is pitched to the left of the standing solider. The inside is dark but closer inspection reveals the bottom of one boot, presumably belonging to a solider lying down inside. At the lower left of the painting, gray smoke drifts up from a pot on a campfire. A knapsack and a pewter plate holding waffle-like hardtack are laid near the tent. A few branches cover the dirt ground to our right. A tan cloth draped over an arbor-like structure of sticks forms a partition between the two soldiers and the rest of the camp, dividing the composition. Rows of tents extend into the distance. A band of soldiers plays music in the distance, light glinting off their gold horn instruments. A row of tents is visible in the deep distance, perhaps across a body of water. The horizon line comes about two-thirds of the way up the composition, and puffy white clouds drift across the pale blue sky above.

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The exhibition of Home, Sweet Home in the spring of 1863 auspiciously marked Winslow Homer's debut as a painter. The painting was enthusiastically admired. "Winslow Homer is one of those few young artists who make a decided impression of their power with their very first contributions," a critic observed. "He at this moment wields a better pencil, models better, colors better, than many" [1] more established artists.

Home, Sweet Home was a remarkable technical achievement for someone, like Homer, who was largely self-taught. In this, one of his very first paintings, Homer's contemporaries were able not only to take clear measure of his large artistic gifts, but also to sense qualities of mind and character that were important parts of what one of them called the "promise of a worthy art future." [2] They saw those qualities in the "delicacy and strength of emotion" [3] of Home, Sweet Home , its "real feeling" [4] and lack of sentimentality. They saw them, too, in its directness, and in its intelligence: "There is no clap-trap about it. Whatever of force is in the picture is not the result of trickery, and is not merely surface work, not admitting of examination, but painstaking labor directed by thought." [5] And they saw them in its modernity: It is "inspired by a fact of to-day." [6]

Two union soldiers (infantrymen, as the insignia on their caps show) listen as the regimental band plays "Home, Sweet Home." In what might almost be a description of Homer's painting, and of the kind of experience Homer himself must have had when he visited the front in 1861 and 1862, the Union general Nelson A. Miles described an occurrence in the valley of the Rappahannock:

Late in the afternoon our bands were accustomed to play the most spirited martial and national airs, as "Columbia," "America," "E. Pluribus Unum," "The Star-spangled Banner," etc., to be answered along the Confederate lines by bands playing, with equal enthusiasm, "The Bonny Blue Flag," "Southern Rights," and "Dixie." These demonstrations frequently aroused the hostile sentiments of the two armies, yet the animosity disappeared when at the close some band would strike up that melody which comes nearest the hearts of all true men, "Home, Sweet Home," and every band within hearing would join in that sacred anthem with unbroken accord and enthusiasm. [7]

The title of Homer's painting evokes the "bitter moment of home-sickness and love-longing" [8] that the song inspired in the soldiers. The title also refers to the soldiers' "home," shown with all of its domestic details--a small pot on a smoky fire, a tin plate holding a single piece of hardtack--which Homer, who did the cooking and washing when he was at the front, knew intimately, and which, with surely intended irony, are very far from "sweet."

(Text by Nicolai Cikovsky Jr., published in the National Gallery of Art exhibition catalogue, Art for the Nation, 2000)

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 68

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Patrons' Permanent Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 54.6 x 41.9 cm (21 1/2 x 16 1/2 in.)
    framed: 77.2 x 64 x 7.6 cm (30 3/8 x 25 3/16 x 3 in.)

  • Accession

    1997.72.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly Samuel Putnam Avery, New York, possibly 1863 to 1867;[1] (his sale, Leeds Art Galleries, New York, 4-5 February 1867, 2nd day, no. 59);[2] Mrs. Alexander H. Shephard [or Shepherd], New York;[3] (Howard Young Galleries, New York); (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), in 1918.[4] George M.L. LaBranche, New York, by c. 1920, certainly by 1944 until at least 1950.[5] (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), in 1954.[6] Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Shaye, Detroit, by 1957;[7] (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 30 May 1984, no. 19, bought in); consigned 29 August 1984 to (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York); sold 1 February 1985 to private collection; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, New York, 5 June 1997, no. 12); purchased by (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York) for NGA.[8]
[1] The painting was marked "for sale" in the catalogue of the 1863 National Academy of Design exhibition. According to "The Lounger. The National Academy of Design," Harper's Weekly 7, no. 331 (2 May 1863): 274, the painting was labeled "sold" by the second day of the exhibition. The buyer was possibly Avery. See also: Lloyd Goodrich, edited and expanded by Abigail Booth Gerdts. Record of Works by Winslow Homer. New York, 2005: 1:no. 189.
[2] The first day of the Avery sale auctioned the "private collection of oil paintings by American artists, made...during the last fifteen years..." Home, Sweet Home was sold on the second day, and appears in the "Catalogue of oil paintings, being the balance of the stock consigned to S. P. Avery." Avery seems to have owned the painting only in order to sell it; it was not part of his personal collection.
[3] The name is spelled Shepherd in the 1984 Sotheby's sale catalogue, and Shephard in the 1997 Christie's sale catalogue.
[4] According to Judd Tully and Jo Ann Lewis, "National Gallery Buys Rare Homer," The Washington Post, 20 June 1997: C1, C4, the painting "had its first recorded gallery sale in 1918, when it sold for $350 at M. Knoedler & Co. in New York."
[5] Goodrich and Gerdts 2005 give the "c. 1920" date. La Branche lent the painting to exhibitions at both the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Worcester Art Museum in 1944, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1950.
[6] Goodrich and Gerdts 2005 include Knoedler's ownership in 1954.
[7] Goodrich and Gerdts 2005 give the 1957 date for the beginning of the Shaye's ownership; they lent the painting to several exhibitions, the first in 1958.
[8] The full provenance was based on the catalogue entry in Marc Simpson, Winslow Home Paintings of the Civil War, exh. cat., The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1988: 142-147, and expanded with information from the NGA curator's acquisition proposal, a 17 June 1997 letter from Stuart Feld (both in NGA curatorial files), and sources referred to in previous notes.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1863

  • Thirty-Eighth Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, 1863, no. 371.

1944

  • Oils and Watercolors by Winslow Homer, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October-November 1944, unnumbered checklist.

  • Winslow Homer, Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, November-December 1944, no. 1.

1950

  • American Processional: 1492-1900, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1950, no. 238.

1958

  • Winslow Homer: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1958-1959, no. 1, repro.

1959

  • A Retrospective Exhibition: Winslow Homer, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1959, no. 1, repro.

1961

  • The Civil War: The Artists' Record, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1961-1962, no. 37, repro.

1963

  • Yankee Painter: A Retrospective Exhibition of Oils, Watercolors and Graphics by Winslow Homer, The University of Arizona Art Gallery, Tucson, 1963, no. 124, repro.

1973

  • Winslow Homer. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Art Institute of Chicago, 1973, no. 1, repro.

1974

  • The Painter's America: Rural and Urban Life, 1810-1910. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Oakland Museum, California, 1974-1975, no. 54, fig. 75.

1995

  • Winslow Homer, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995-1996, no. 2, repro.

1997

  • Winslow Homer and the Civil War: Recent Acquisitions. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1997, no cat.

2000

  • Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2000-2001, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2005

  • Winslow Homer in the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2005-2006, unnumbered brochure.

2007

  • Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation, National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Museum; The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow; Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, 2007-2008, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2012

  • The Civil War and American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2012-2013, no. 52, repro.

Bibliography

1863

  • Curtis, G. W. "The Lounger/The National Academy of Design." Harper's Weekly 7 (2 May 1863): 274, no. 331.

1866

  • Aldrich, T. B. "Among the Studios." Our Young Folks, July 1966.

1879

  • "American Painters: Winslow Homer and F. A. Bridgman." The Art Journal n.s. xviii (1879): 154.

1908

  • Mechlin, L. "Winslow Homer." International Studio XXXIV (June 1908): cxxvi, no. 136.

1910

  • "Winslow Homer Dies; Noted Marine Artist." Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, October 1, 1910.

  • "Winslow Homer, Noted Artist, Dies." New York Herald, October 1, 1910.

  • Fitzgerald, P. "Winslow Homer/The Noted Artist is Dead." Philadelphia Item, October 1, 1910.

1911

  • Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Winslow Homer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1911: XV.

  • Downes, W. H. The Life and Works of Winslow Homer. Boston, 1911: 46, 47, 48-49, 276.

1914

  • Cox, Kenyon. Winslow Homer. New York, 1914: 17-18.

1932

  • Bolton, T. "The Art of Winslow Homer: An Estimate in 1932." The Fine Arts xviii (February 1932): 52, no. 3.

1944

  • Goodrich, Lloyd. Winslow Homer. New York, 1944: 19, pl. 4.

  • Bolton, T. "Homer Revisited at the Whitney." Art News XLIII (October 1944): 17, no. 13, repro.

1958

  • Churchill, Winston. "The Noblest War: Part I, Vol. IV of a History of the English Speaking Peoples." Life XLIV (24 February 1958): 84, no. 8, repro.

1959

  • Goodrich, Lloyd. Winslow Homer. New York, 1959: 114, pl. 2.

1961

  • Gardner, Albert Ten Eyck. Winslow Homer, American Artist: His World and His Work. New York, 1961: 16, 57, 77-78, 129, 255, repro.

1962

  • Flexner, James Thomas That Wilder Image: The Native School from Thomas Cole to Winslow Homer. New York, 1962: 279 (reprinted 1970).

1966

  • Flexner, James Thomas The World of Winslow Homer, 1836-1910. New York, 1966: 66, 67, 69-70, repro.

1972

  • Wilmerding, John. Winslow Homer. New York, 1972: 42.

1973

  • Goodrich, Lloyd. Winslow Homer. New York, 1973: 51, 134, repro.

1974

  • Grossman, J. Echo of a Distant Drum. 1974: 8, 127, color pl. 05, 198-199, note 57.

1975

  • Davis, M. D. Winslow Homer: An Annotated Bibliography of Periodical Literature. Metuchen, New Jersey, 1975: 15, 85, nos. 102 and 688.

1979

  • Hendricks, Gordon. The Life and Work of Winslow Homer. New York, 1975: 50, 65, 70 nn. 28 and 45.

1986

  • Cooper, Helen A. Winslow Homer Watercolors. New Haven, 1986: 17.

1988

  • Simpson, Marc. Winslow Homer Paintings of the Civil War. San Francisco, 1988: 142-147, no. 4, repro.

1995

  • Winslow Homer. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995-1996: no. 2.

1998

  • McLellan, Diana. "Really Big Shows." Washingtonian 33, no. 11 (August 1998): 70.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 320-321, no. 258, color repro.

2005

  • Goodrich, Lloyd, and Abigail Booth Gerdts. Record of Works by Winslow Homer, vol. 1. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2005, no. 189.

2011

  • Benfy, Christopher. "Winslow Homer: The Stern Facts." The New York Review of Books 58, no. 5 (March 24, 2011): 8-9, color repro.

2012

  • Harvey, Eleanor Jones. "The Civil War and American Art." American Art Review 24, no. 6 (November-December 2012): 82, 84, color repro.

2013

  • Johnson, Ken. “When Painters Showed the War in More than Blue and Gray.” New York Times 162, no. 56,153 (May 31, 2013): C-27, color repro.

2015

  • "Art for the Nation: The Story of the Patrons' Permanent Fund." National Gallery of Art Bulletin, no. 53 (Fall 2015): 14-15, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: W Homer

Wikidata ID

Q12102878

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