The Sutler's Tent

Maker Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910)

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1863

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 16 1/4 × 12 in. (41.3 × 30.5 cm.) frame: 23 1/4 × 19 3/8 in. (59.1 × 49.2 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence

Status

On view

Label TextThe Sutler's Tent is a rare Civil War painting that documents Winslow Homer's travels with the Union Army as an illustrator for Harper's Weekly. The painting depicts a calm moment in camp as two cavalry soldiers relax beneath an awning of pine boughs outside a sutler's tent. One soldier stands pensively resting his chin in his hand; the other holds a wedge of cheese in one hand while devouring a pie held in the other. The positions of the soldiers' hands mirror one another, suggesting that some soldiers could afford to buy extra rations from sutlers--private merchants who traveled with the army--while others went hungry. Originally titled "Rations," the painting was among the works that Homer included in his first exhibition of oil paintings in 1863.

Object number2025.14