Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009178About the Artwork
Created during the United States Civil War, Winslow Homer’s painting depicts two volunteers for the Union Army who sport their regiment’s highly colorful uniforms, a design discovered to be impractical due to its ability to be spotted by sharpshooters. Passing idle time in their encampment, one soldier holds a lit pipe and watches his companion whittle a block of wood. The painting shares its title with a contemporary poem, in which a soldier smokes a brierwood pipe and daydreams of the time when the conflict will end so he can return home. The museum acquired this painting during World War II, and it seems likely that the painting’s subject was viewed as especially significant for its wartime audience.
Inscriptions
signed lower left: Homer 64
Provenance
1944-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio Probably 1940-1944: Mrs. Z. Boylston Adams (Helen Foster), Brookline, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1915 - probably 1940: Zabdiel Boylston Adams [1875-1940], Brookline, MA, to his wife, Mrs. Z. Boylston Adams1 1881-1915: Annie Adams Fields (Mrs. James T. Fields) [1834-1915], Boston, MA, by bequest to her nephew, Zabdiel Boylston Adams -1881: James Thomas Fields [1817-1881], Boston, MA
Exhibition history
Exhibition of the Month: Atmospheric Depth in Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 31, 1947). 35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951). The Civil War: The Artists' Record. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (November 18-December 31, 1961); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (February 1-March 4, 1962). Winslow Homer: Portrait of America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 10, 1965-May 16, 1966). Winslow Homer. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (October 15, 1995-January 28, 1996); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (February 21-May 26, 1996). The Civil War and American Art. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC (organizer) (November 16, 2012-April 27, 2013); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (May 21-September 2, 2013). ArtLens Reimagined: The Intersection of Art, Technology, and Innovation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 23, 2026-September 1, 2031).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910)
- Date
- 1864
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 68.9 x 64.1 x 9.2 cm (27 1/8 x 25 1/4 x 3 5/8 in.); Unframed: 42.8 x 37.5 cm (16 7/8 x 14 3/4 in.); Former: 69 x 64 x 8 cm (27 3/16 x 25 3/16 x 3 1/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- American Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 1944.524
More by Winslow Homer in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009178
Powered by Art Trackers