"Come" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VIII)

"Come" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VIII) is a historically significant print created by Winslow Homer in 1869. This striking example of American illustration, executed as a wood engraving, was published in the February issue of The Galaxy, a prominent literary periodical of the post-Civil War era. During this time, Homer worked extensively as a magazine illustrator, using the medium to rapidly convey contemporary American life and narrative scenes to a mass audience.

The wood engraving depicts a carefully balanced interior scene focused on the interaction between a man and a woman, reflecting the popular themes of courtship, domesticity, and social encounters common in 19th-century literature. Homer masterfully uses the high-contrast restrictions of the print medium to define figures and clothing, emphasizing their postures and subtle implied dialogue. The composition demonstrates the artist’s skill in narrative art, where detail and setting contribute significantly to the suggested emotional weight of the encounter between the two primary subjects.

This type of reproductive print, produced through demanding wood engraving techniques, was essential for disseminating art and visual information across the burgeoning American middle class. Homer’s extensive practice in this field sharpened his compositional eye, influencing his later trajectory toward oil painting. This impression is held in the renowned collection of American prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Due to the age and cultural relevance of the piece, this artwork and similar Homer prints from the 1860s are frequently available through public domain resources, furthering the study of 19th-century illustration.