A watercolor depicts a row of tropical plants overlooking a body of water as a ship floats in the background.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A watercolor depicts a row of tropical plants growing along a reddish, earthen path that overlooking a body of clear blue water. The plants have long, spiky leaves in shades of green and yellow that grow in all directions; two plants have tall brown stalks growing towards the sky, which is full of white and grey clouds. The tips of the talks break through an opening in the clouds, touching a patch of light blue sky. In the background, a ship with white sails floats on the calm blue water towards a white lighthouse.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.300
People
Winslow Homer, American (Boston, MA 1836 - 1910 Prouts Neck, ME)
Title
Spanish Bayonets
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1885
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/307874

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Transparent and opaque watercolor over graphite on heavy white wove paper
Dimensions
38 x 51.3 cm (14 15/16 x 20 3/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: gray watercolor, l.l.: HOMER / 1885
  • inscription: verso, graphite: Spanish Bayonets / Nassau W. P. / New Providence / Bahama Islands / 14 1/2 x 20

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Winslow Homer, sold [through J. W. Young Galleries, Chicago, 1907]; to E. T. Webb, Webb City, MO, 1910, sold [through Howard Young Galleries, St. Louis, MO, 1919]; to Harry W. Jones, Kansas City, MO, circa 1919, bequest; to his daughter Julia Jones Hubbell Lind, Greenwich, CT, 1920, sold [through Parke-Bernet Galleries, NY, 1941]; to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York, NY, 1941, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.300
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Winslow Homer's Sub-Tropical America, exh. cat., Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL, 1968), cat. 4
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), p. 242
  • Patti Hannaway, Winslow Homer in the Tropics, Westover Publishing Company (Richmond, VA, 1973), pp. 152-153, plate 6
  • Gordon Hendricks, The Life and Work of Winslow Homer, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1979), CL-273, p. 298
  • Helen A. Cooper, Winslow Homer Watercolors, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art/Yale University Press (Washington, D.C. and New Haven, CT, 1986), p. 250; reproduced in b/w fig. 124
  • Lloyd Goodrich and Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer, Spanierman Gallery (New York, 2005-2014), vol. 4.2, p. 329, no. 1273, repr. p. 329
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 163-164, cat. no. 38, reproduced in color, p. 164
  • Gabrielle Townsend, Winslow Homer: Aquarelles, Bibliothèque de l'Image (Paris, France, 2011), repr. p. 27
  • Joachim Homann, Margaret Morgan Grasselli, and Miriam Stewart, ed., American Watercolors, 1880–1990: Into the Light, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2023), repr. as pl. 8 on p. 77

Exhibition History

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu