Artwork Page for The Army of the Potomac - A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty

Details / Information for The Army of the Potomac - A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty

The Army of the Potomac - A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty

1862

Winslow Homer

(American, 1836–1910)
Culture
America
Medium
wood engraving
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1942.1262
Catalogue raisonné
Foster 62
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Although now most famous as a painter, Homer was also a graphic artist throughout his career and from 1857 provided illustrations for the New York-based Harper's Weekly. When the Civil War began in 1861, the magazine sent Homer to Virginia, where he made numerous drawings of the military. He seldom depicted actual fighting, instead candidly describing everyday camp life. The drawings were reproduced as wood engravings (professionals cut the blocks), the technique used to reproduce illustrations in magazines and books before the development of photomechanical processes.
A horizontally oriented wood engraving in black ink depicts a man with light skin tone perched in a pine tree. He sits on a branch extending left, leaning forward to aim a scoped rifle toward our right. Fine, dark hatching defines the figure and surrounding needles. A canteen hangs from a branch on the right. Below, text reads, "THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC—A SHARP-SHOOTER ON PICKET DUTY."

The Army of the Potomac - A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty

1862

Winslow Homer

(American, 1836–1910)
America

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