Winslow Homer’s “Breezing Up”, 1876, National Gallery of Art
Born on February 24, 1836 in Boston, Massachusetts, Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter best known for his marine paintings. His mother was an amateur watercolor painter and was his first teacher. He was an average student but always showed an aptitude for art and upon graduating from high school his father helped him get a job with a lithographer as an apprentice. He spent twenty years doing illustrations for Harper’s Weekly and other local publications before opening a studio.
One of his most well know paintings, Breezing Up, depicts a father and three boys out for a sail. In 1962 it was released as a commemorative stamp honoring Homer.
Boys in a Pasture, 1874, Winslow Homer, Boston Museum of Fine Art
In 2010, the Post Office issued another stamp as part of their American Treasure series. It was the Boys in a Pasture from 1874. I was lucky enough to have seen it in Boston last year at the MFA. Considered one of the finest American painters of the 19th Century he died in September 1910 at the age of 74. Today we wish Winslow Homer a happy birthday and remember his art with admiration.
The Studio 