Christmas – Gathering Evergreens (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. II)

"Christmas – Gathering Evergreens (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. II)" by Winslow Homer is a significant early work created in 1858. The piece is a wood engraving, illustrating Homer’s initial focus as an illustrator working for the popular New York periodical, Harper’s Weekly. As an affordable and reproducible print medium, the wood engraving allowed for wide dissemination, capturing scenes of contemporary American life in the years just preceding the Civil War.

This festive scene captures an integral aspect of 19th-century holiday preparation. The composition features several figures- men, women, and children- actively engaged in collecting boughs and evergreens, materials essential for traditional Christmas decoration. The image documents the communal activity associated with the holiday, reflecting the burgeoning popularization of modern American Christmas traditions in the mid-1800s, where domestic ritual played an increasingly important role.

Even in these illustrative prints, Homer demonstrates his characteristic skill in rendering figures in motion and integrating them seamlessly into a natural, detailed setting. This early phase of the artist's career, defined by high-volume graphic work, established the technical foundation for his later iconic oil paintings. This important piece of American illustration resides in the distinguished print collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a key work tracing the development of the young artist, and due to its historical importance, digital prints of this 1858 wood engraving are often made accessible through public domain collections.