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The Veteran in a New Field

Winslow Homer American
1865
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 762
Completed in 1865, following the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, this symbolic painting embodies the tension between grief and hope after the Civil War. A discarded Union Army jacket and canteen in the lower right corner identify the farmer as a veteran, and the "new field" of the title reminds us of his old one, the battlefield. This return to peaceful pursuits echoes the biblical passage from Isaiah 2:4, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares." While the bountiful harvest signifies renewal and recovery, the single-bladed scythe evokes the Grim Reaper.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Veteran in a New Field
  • Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
  • Date: 1865
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 24 1/8 x 38 1/8in. (61.3 x 96.8cm)
    Framed: 37 3/8 × 51 1/4 × 5 1/4 in. (94.9 × 130.2 × 13.3 cm)
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967
  • Object Number: 67.187.131
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Annie Lawrie (Sheet music cover), Winslow Homer American, Lithograph
Annie Lawrie (Sheet music cover)
Multiple artists/makers
1850–59
Sunday Morning in Virginia – From the Painting by Winslow Homer in the National Academy of Design (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XXIV), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
Sunday Morning in Virginia – From the Painting by Winslow Homer in the National Academy of Design (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XXIV)
Winslow Homer
May 22, 1880
A Quiet Day in the Country (from "Appleton's Journal," Vol. III), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
A Quiet Day in the Country (from "Appleton's Journal," Vol. III)
Winslow Homer
D. Appleton & Co.
June 6, 1870
George Blake's Letter (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. IX), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
George Blake's Letter (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. IX)
Winslow Homer
January 1870
"I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
"I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI)
Winslow Homer
September 1868

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