Winslow Homer.  “A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty.”  New York: Harper’s Weekly, Nov. 15, 1862.  9 1/8 x 13 3/4 in.  Woodcut.  Very good condition.  Beam #99.

 Harper’s Weekly was a weekly newspaper filled with woodblock illustrations by many of the leading American artists of the last half of the nineteenth century.Of particular historical importance are the contemporaneous views of Civil War battles, soldiers and scenes.These pictures, often drawn on the spot by the magazine’s numerous artists, provided the most widely circulated eye-witness illustrations of the war, and thus were the most common means by which Americans could view the events and persons of this tragic conflict. They also provide us with first-hand glimpses of the Civil War that are now beginning to be appreciated as not only decorative and affordable, but as having their own historic value for the collector. Amongst the most famous of the illustrators for Harper’s was Winslow Homer, who after the war went on to establish himself as one of America’s best genre painters.Homer began his career as a war illustrator, traveling with the troops and sketching scenes on the spot.This famous print by Winslow Homer is amongst the best Civil War prints in the series.