The Seceding Mississippi Delegation in Congress, from Harper's Weekly, February 2, 1861

Art Historical Context

In the tense months leading up to the Civil War, Winslow Homer captured a pivotal moment in American history with *The Seceding Mississippi Delegation Congress*, a wood engraving published in *'s Weekly* on February2, 1861. As a young illustrator for the influential magazine, Homer depicted the Mississippi senators and statesmen—likely including figures like Jefferson Davis—formally withdrawing from the U.S. Congress following Mississippi's secession on January 9. This print, now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection, offers a stark visual record of the unraveling Union. Homer's r...

About the Artist

Winslow Homer · 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...