Art Object Page

Inscription

lower right: HOMER

Provenance

By inheritance 1910 to the artist's brother, Charles Savage Homer, Jr.; by inheritance 1917 to his wife, Mrs. Charles Savage Homer, Jr.; given to John Wesley Beatty [1851-1924], Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;[1] by inheritance to his son, John Wesley Beatty, Jr. [1890-1963], Homewood, Pennsylvania;[2] bequest 1964 to NGA.

[1] After his death, the painting went first to Mr. Beatty's widow, and then to their son, after 1940, according to the provenance in Lloyd Goodrich, edited and expanded by Abigail Booth Gerdts. Record of Works by Winslow Homer. New York, 2005: 2:no. 583.

[2] Homewood is a suburb of Pittsburgh. Beatty's last will and testament gives Pittsburgh as his residence.

Associated Names

Beatty, John Wesley
Beatty, Jr., John Wesley
Homer, Jr., Charles Savage
Homer, Jr., Charles Savage, Mrs.

Exhibition History

1967: National Gallery Loan Exhibition, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1967, no. 14.

1970: Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1970-1974.

1985: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Stuart, U.S. Embassy residence, Oslo, Norway, 1985-1989.

1991: Extended loan for use by Secretary Lynn Martin, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C., 1991-1993.

1993: Extended loan for use by Secretary Robert Reich, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C., 1993-1997.

2000: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Philip Lader, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 2000-2001.

2002: Extended loan for use by Attorney General John Ashcroft, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., 2002-2005.

2005: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Craig R. Stapleton, U.S. Embassy residence, Paris, France, 2005-2009.

2009: Extended loan for use by President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington, D.C., 2009-2017.

Technical Summary

The support is a fine, plain-weave fabric with a white ground. Infrared reflectography reveals a cursorily brushed underdrawing outlining the background trees and figure and a slight repositioning of the boy's right arm. X-radiography shows reserves for the boy's shadow and the trees. The sky was painted in two stages, and traction crackle in the upper pink layer reveals a lower blue layer of paint. In 1956, the painting was relined and the varnish thinned during restoration. Considerable inpainting covers the traction crackle in the sky and water, and reinforces the boat's prow and the foliage along the horizon. The varnish has not discolored.

Bibliography

1878: "The Arts." Appleton's Journal 14 (6 November 1878): 603.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 70, repro.

1979: Hendricks, Gordon. The Life and Work of Winslow Homer. New York, 1979: 101, 284, repro. 284.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 178, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 172, repro.

1986: Wilmerding, John. "Winslow Homer's Dad's Coming." In John Wilmerding, ed. Essays in Honor of Paul Mellon, Collector and Benefactor. Washington, D.C., 1986: 399, repro. 398.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 204, repro.

1996: Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 309-311, repro.

2005: Goodrich, Lloyd, and Abigail Booth Gerdts. Record of Works by Winslow Homer, vol. 2. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2005, no. 583.

Sunset, c. 1875