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Ship's Boat

Winslow Homer American
1883
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Homer shows several sailors caught in the crest of a wave, struggling to right their capsized dory (a small, flat-bottomed rowboat). They scrabble against the vessel with their hands, desperately attempting to gain purchase before they crash against the looming rocks. Homer elaborated the context for this disastrous scene in a preparatory drawing, writing that the view was seen "from the retina of a drowned man." This explanation forecloses the possibility of rescue for the protagonist, as his fate is evidently sealed.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ship's Boat
  • Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
  • Date: 1883
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Watercolor on paper
  • Dimensions: 15 × 28 1/4 in. (38.1 × 71.8 cm)
    Framed: 26 3/8 x 39 1/8 x 1 1/8 in. (67 x 99.4 x 2.9 cm)
  • Credit Line: New Britain Museum of American Art, Conn., Charles F. Smith Fund (1940.02)
  • Rights and Reproduction: New Britain Museum of American Art
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing