The Veteran in a New Field

rdf:langString The Veteran in a New Field

rdf:langString The Veteran in a New Field

rdf:langString File:The Veteran in a New Field 1865 Winslow Homer.jpg

rdf:langString Oil on canvas

rdf:langString The Veteran in a New Field

rdf:langString The Veteran in a New Field is an oil-on-canvas painting by the 19th-century American artist Winslow Homer. It is set in the aftermath of the American Civil War and is often interpreted as an emblem of postbellum American society. The painting depicts a farmer harvesting wheat in a field with a scythe. The farmer in the painting is identified as a former Union Soldier from his discarded jacket and canteen in the right foreground of the painting. This painting was one of several that Homer did on the American Civil War, including his previous works Home, Sweet Home and Prisoners from the Front. The Veteran in a New Field is a transitional painting in Homer's body of work. It comments on the postbellum return of soldiers to daily life and the history of death that they bring along with them. It uses biblical themes to comment on war and nature, while also alluding to stories from classical history. Homer finished the painting in 1865, the concluding year of the American Civil War. The painting was donated by Adelaide Milton de Groot to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains today (though it is not currently on view).