George Washington Frost Mellen
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
S/NPG.87.240
Tags
Art Historical Context
In this early print from around 1855, Winslow Homer, then a 19-year-old apprentice lithographer, captures the likeness of George Washington Frost Mellen, a dedicated abolitionist. Created as a portrait in the medium of print—likely lithography, Homer's specialty at the time—this work showcases the artist's emerging talent for precise, evocative imagery. Housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection, it reflects Homer's beginnings in commercial illustration for magazines like *Ballou's Pictorial*, before he rose to fame as a master of American Realism. Mellen, depicted with eyegla...