Sketch of a Cottage Yard

c. 1876

Winslow Homer

Associated Names
Winslow Homer

Painter, American, 1836 - 1910

This is a painting of an outdoor scene with a group of people gathered in front of a blue-gray wooden building with a dark door and two windows. Sunflowers grow on either side of the entrance, stretching up to the windows. The ground is painted in patches of tan, brown, and gray, perhaps indicating stone steps or a path. To the left of center is a group of shapes and colors that suggest four or five people gathered together on the ground. The people are painted with rough brushstrokes and have no distinct details or facial features. Their clothes are painted in shades of white, tan, gray, red, and pale blue, and appear to include dresses, bonnets, shirts, and suspenders. Their skin seems to be painted in shades of dark brown. There is a small stool or chair in the bottom right corner, and in the top left corner is a green area with white birds visible.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M68

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired at auction in Boston c. 1878 by William S. Eaton, Boston; by descent to his son, Francis S. Eaton, Boston.[1] William Francis Cochran Ewing, New York; (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), by 1946;[2] purchased 5 June 1950 by Oliver B. James, Oyster Bay, New York and Phoenix; (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[3] purchased 24 April 1961 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] Early provenance according to correspondence 3 May 1961 from M. Knoedler & Co. to Corcoran Gallery of Art. See NGA curatorial file.
[2] This painting is stock number A3406 in the M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Painting Stockbook 9, A2681-A4782, 1943 November-1952 February, page 120 of the stockbook.
[3] Stock number A7978 in the M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Painting Stockbook 11, A7178-A9437, 1959 February-1970 December, page 119 of the stockbook.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1926

  • Long-term Loan, Musuem of Fine Arts, Boston, 1926.

1953

  • Summertime, U. S. A., Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1953, no. 11.

1963

  • Progress of an American Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 25 October-29 December 1963, unpublished checklist.

1988

  • Winslow Homer's Images of Blacks: The Civil War and Reconstruction Years, Menil Collection, Houston; Virginia Musuem of Fine Arts, Richmond; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1988-1989.

2004

  • Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art, 1770-1950, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 20 November 2004-7 August 2005, unpublished checklist.

2008

  • The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1 March-27 July 2008, unpublished checklist.

Bibliography

2011

  • Cash, Sarah, ed. Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Washington, 2011: 302, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q46630446

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