# The Veteran in a New Field

**Winslow Homer** (American, 1836–1910)  
1865  
Oil on canvas  
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)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 67.187.131. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11145).

## About this work

A Union veteran, his army jacket and canteen thrown down at the lower right, swings a scythe through a vast field of ripe wheat, his back to us. Winslow Homer painted the picture in 1865, the year the Civil War ended, and it captures the hope that soldiers could return to peaceful work. Yet the scythe also recalls the Grim Reaper, and the harvest of wheat echoes the harvest of death on the battlefield. Homer simplified the tool, painting out the cradle of a farmer’s scythe, perhaps to strengthen that association.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Winslow Homer painted this in 1865, aged 29. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Winslow Homer](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/winslow-homer)

American, 1836–1910; born in Boston, Massachusetts; died in Prouts Neck, Maine

Homer began as an illustrator, covering the Civil War for Harper’s Weekly, and first made his name in painting with scenes of soldiers and country life. A stay at the fishing village of Cullercoats on the English coast in 1881–82 turned him towards the sea, and from 1883 he lived at Prouts Neck, Maine, painting the Atlantic in all weathers. He was also a fluent watercolourist in the Adirondacks, Canada and the Caribbean, and The Gulf Stream draws on those southern journeys.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: American
- The artist was 29
- Real size: about 24 × 38 in (61 × 97 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 12 × 16 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Realism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/realism)
- Subjects: Men, Farmers
- Colour: teal
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/834.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/834/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-veteran-in-a-new-field-met-11145).