Prisoners from the Front

Winslow Homer American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 762

As an artist-correspondent for Harper’s Weekly, Homer visited the Union front twice during the Civil War. Painted after the war ended, this canvas refers to Brigadier General Francis Channing Barlow’s capture of Confederate soldiers and officers in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (Virginia) in May 1864. It also symbolizes the ideological rift between North and South in the contrasting postures of the participants and the physical distance between them. The work established Homer’s reputation in 1866 at the annual exhibition of New York’s National Academy of Design and was shown to further critical acclaim at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

#4362. Prisoners from the Front

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Prisoners from the Front, Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine), Oil on canvas, American

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