Making Hay by Winslow Homer, 1872. Wood engraving by an unknown engraver. 9 1/8 x 13 7/8 inches.Harper’s Weekly (July 6, 1872): 529.
Homer’s rural idyll, with figures in harmony with the landscape. This imagery is redolent of the Idyllic School. However, Homer’s work in this idiom, like that of his British counterparts, is far from being a straightforward celebration of rurality. In this design, typically, there is a symbolic undertow: could it be, for example, that the man working the scythe is stopping to reflect on the ephemerality of life, as a surrogate Grim Reaper? The cutting down of the plants becomes in this sense of metaphor for time and the inevitability of death, as youth (embodied in the figures of the two children) will inescapably become the victim of ageing and death.
Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
Harper’s Weekly (1872).
Created 29 August 2023