The Union Cavalry and Artillery Starting in Pursuit of the Rebels up the Yorktown Turnpike, from Harper's Weekly, May 17, 1862
1862
Medium
Graphic Arts-Print
Classification
Graphic Arts-Print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, Gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian
Accession Number
1996.63.46
Tags
Art Historical Context
Winslow Homer, a pioneering American realist artist, captured the raw energy of the Civil War in this dynamic wood engraving from *Harper's Weekly*, published May 17, 1862. Titled *The Union Cavalry and Artillery in Pursuit of the Rebels the Yorktown Turnpike it depicts Union soldiers—cavalrymen on horseback and artillery units—charging forward in Virginia during the Peninsula Campaign. Homer, then a young correspondent for the magazine, sketched scenes firsthand, translating them into prints that brought the war's immediacy to Northern homes. This artwork illustrates a pivotal moment after t...
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...