Thanksgiving Day in the Army – After Dinner: The Wish-Bone (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VIII)

Thanksgiving Day in the Army – After Dinner: The Wish-Bone (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VIII)

Winslow Homer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Homer’s image of Union soldiers breaking a wishbone in camp after a Thanksgiving meal in 1864 conveys the hope that the Civil War might be drawing to a close. Indeed, within four months the Confederate capital of Richmond would fall and General Robert　E. Lee would surrender. Superficially naturalistic, the scene is filled with objects that can be read symbolically: war drums are stacked peaceably in the background, and soldiers rest, smoke, and play, the only visible weapon a sheathed sword. The centrality of a simple game associated with a shared family feast suggests where the soldier’s thoughts are focused. By this date Homer was devoting himself primarily to painting, and the solemn, monumental figures here reflect his compositions in oil.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thanksgiving Day in the Army – After Dinner: The Wish-Bone (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VIII)Thanksgiving Day in the Army – After Dinner: The Wish-Bone (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VIII)Thanksgiving Day in the Army – After Dinner: The Wish-Bone (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VIII)Thanksgiving Day in the Army – After Dinner: The Wish-Bone (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VIII)Thanksgiving Day in the Army – After Dinner: The Wish-Bone (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VIII)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.