For to Be a Farmer's Boy

Museum record 93433: For to Be a Farmer's Boy by Winslow Homer. A verified entry point for discovery.

What to notice

For For to Be a Farmer's Boy (record 93433), start with modern, expressive, atmospheric. Compare the focal subject, edge treatment, and atmosphere before moving on.

Discover

For to Be a Farmer’s Boy was painted at Prout’s Neck, Maine, and is one of several watercolors in which Homer returned to his earlier theme of rural American childhood. Although the sky has faded and appears empty, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and FTIR analyses have yielded evidence that the artist originally painted the sky with dilute washes of chrome yellow and pink madder (both fugitive pigments ), with a minute amount of vermilion, to create a glowing orange sunset. Thus, the watercolor originall…