Picking Peaches in Delaware

"Picking Peaches in Delaware," created by Winslow Homer between 1873 and 1883, is a superb example of the artist's skill as an illustrator and graphic master. This detailed wood engraving, classified as a Print, highlights a pivotal period in Homer’s career, just before he transitioned fully away from commercial illustration. The medium, popular during the late nineteenth century, allowed for the broad dissemination of imagery through journals and periodicals, cementing Homer’s reputation among the public as a crucial visual interpreter of American life. The fine lines and deep contrasts inherent in the engraving technique are skillfully employed to define the figures and the atmosphere of the rural scene.

The subject matter captures a slice of agricultural life in the United States, specifically focusing on the activity of peach harvesting in Delaware. Homer consistently engaged with everyday genre scenes following the Civil War, often depicting scenes of labor, leisure, and domesticity with realism and dignity. This work provides insight into the period’s taste for accessible narratives that reflected the nation's robust agricultural sector. Although Homer is celebrated globally for his later oil paintings and watercolors, this piece reveals his foundational training in graphic arts and his profound connection to the common realities of the American cultural landscape.

This significant print is permanently held in the esteemed collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, contributing to a substantial overview of nineteenth-century American prints. Like many of the illustrations Homer produced during this era, the work has become widely available through public domain resources, allowing continued study of its craftsmanship and historical context.