Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910), Old Woman Gathering Brush

oil on canvas (lined), signed and dated 1865, presented in a later gilt frame, retaining exhibition labels to verso.
Stretcher size 17 x 13 1/8 in.; Frame dimensions 23 1/2 x 19 1/2 in.
Winslow Homer is among the most important American artists of the 19th century. He began his artistic career as an apprentice to a lithographer in Boston. In 1859, he moved from Boston to New York to work as a freelance illustrator. His work as an illustrator, most notably for Harper's Weekly, gained national attention for his perceptive and piercing images of American life during the Civil War. Beginning in the mid-1860s, he increasingly focused on painting in oils and watercolors. The resulting works combining his mastery of the mediums and dramatic compositions firmly ensconce him as a founding father of modern American art.
Commodore Horatio Bridge
Mrs. Daniel Williams, Augusta, Maine (his sister)
Horace Williams, Augusta, Maine (her stepson)
Mrs. Newton Edwards (his sister), 1894
Mary Edwards, East Jaffrey, New Hampshire (her grand-daughter), 1908
Doll and Richards, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1936
Clifton Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, 1939
James G. Leyburn, Lexington, Virginia, 1945
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York
Craig and Tarlton, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1974


Exhibited:
Raleigh, North Carolina, Craig & Tarlton, Two Centuries of American Paintings, 1974
Charlotte, North Carolina, Mint Museum of Art, American Paintings: The Landon Collection, 1979 - 1981, no. 20 (and traveling)
Charlottesville, Virginia, University of Virginia Art Museum, A Jeffersonian Ideal: Selections from the Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon III Collection of American Fine and Decorative Arts, August-November 2005, p. 48, illustrated in color p. 49


Literature:
Lucretia H. Giese, 'Winslow Homer's Civil War Painting "The Initials": A Little Known Drawing and Related works,' The American Art Journal, Summer, 1986, Vo. 18, No. 3, pp. 5-19, fig. 8
Lloyd Goodrich and Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer, 1846-1866, Vol. I, New York, 2005, no. 265, p. 327, illustrated
From the Collection of the late Dr. & Mrs. Henry C. and Barbara Landon III, Wilmington, North Carolina
Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.lelandlittle.com

Minor chipping to frame; minimal scattered retouch visible under UV light; light over-cleaning in areas.