Untitled; "Allow Me to Examine the Young Lady"

Untitled; "Allow Me to Examine the Young Lady" by Winslow Homer is a significant wood engraving created in 1860. As a leading American illustrator of the mid-nineteenth century, Homer often utilized the medium for mass publication in widely read magazines and newspapers across the United States. This highly reproducible form of the print, made by carving the image into the end grain of a block of wood, allowed for durable blocks capable of thousands of impressions, making wood engraving the dominant form of illustration before photographic techniques became prevalent.

The subject matter, suggested by the subtitle, likely depicts a familiar social or domestic scenario common in genre scenes of the period. Homer’s early career focused on acute, often understated observations of American life, capturing the nuanced interactions implied by the title’s phrase. Homer used the medium's high-contrast lines to efficiently convey narrative details and distinct character expressions. This work, dated just before the outbreak of the Civil War, offers important documentation of pre-war social customs and demonstrates the developing graphic strength that the artist would later channel into his celebrated paintings. Works like this one, now widely circulated and often residing in the public domain, ensured that Homer's illustrations became instantly recognizable to the general population. The piece is classified as a print and is held in the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.