Farmhouse on a Hill

Having established himself as a respected artist in the 1860s with his moving depictions of Civil War soldiers, Winslow Homer solidified his place as a great American artist with his paintings of nostalgic rural life in the following decade, such as Farmhouse on a Hill. During a time of Restoration for the country, Homer's concentration on the simple ways of the past reflected the need for hope and peace in the nation. At the same time, Homer's tendency toward a contemplative mood in his works acknowledged the feelings of the public in a time of national uncertainty, as well as his own personal disquietude as he approached middle age.
The present work was painted during Homer's extended stay in the summer and fall of 1878 at Houghton Farm, a working homestead in Mountainville, New York, owned by Homer's first and most important patron, Lawson Valentine. A varnish manufacturer who eventually owned approximately forty works by the artist, Valentine purchased Houghton Farm in 1876 and soon invited Homer to visit. With its picturesque horses, Jersey cows and Southdown sheep, the farm inspired the artist to create approximately fifty watercolors and several drawings and studies. Likely referring to the present work, a contemporary reviewer described "a deep lavender heaven and scarlet cows dabbed in with the same brush that had been loaded for the autumn sumach bushes" (M.G. Van Rensselaer, "Recent Pictures in New York" in American Architect and Building News, vol. V, March 22, 1879, p. 93). Farmhouse on a Hill is a stunning bucolic scene emblematic of this important period in Homer's career.