Life in Camp, Part 2: The Rifle Pit
Medium
Color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/8 x 2 3/8 in. (10.4 x 6.1 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson Burdick, 1947
Accession Number
47.91.25(199)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This color lithograph, created in 1864 by Winslow Homer and published by Louis Prang & Co. and Beadle & Co., offers a vivid glimpse into everyday soldier life during the American Civil War. Titled *Life in Camp, Part 2: The Rifle Pit*, the small print (just over four by two inches) depicts Union troops in a defensive trench, highlighting the tension and camaraderie of camp routines amid conflict. Homer, who began his career as an illustrator for magazines like *Harper’s Weekly*, drew from his own observations at the front to capture these intimate moments. As a color lithograph, the work refl...
About the Artist
Winslow Homer|Louis Prang & Co.|Beadle & Co. · 1836–1910
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was one of America's greatest painters and a preeminent figure in 19th-century American art. Largely self-taught, Homer began his career as a commercial illustrator and Civil War correspondent for Harper's Weekly before becoming renowned for his powerful marine subjects and landscape paintings. His mastery of both oil and watercolor, combined with his uncompromising reali...