Winslow Homer

Mrs. Louis Prang, Boston, Massachusetts

H.H. Pierce & Miss Frances Tarbox, Reading, Massachusetts (acquired in 1924)

Kennedy Galleries, New York

Park Gallery, Oak Park, Michigan (acquired in 1960)

James Goodman Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Harold K. Hochschild, New York (acquired from the above circa 1966)

Private Collection (by descent from the above)

Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 22 October 1981, lot 16 (consigned by the above)

Frank Fowler, Lookout Mountain, Tennessee (acquired from the above)

Sotheby's New York, 28 May 1987, lot 100 (consigned by the above)

A. Alfred Taubman (acquired from the above)

Sotheby's New York, 18 November 2015, lot 27 (consigned by the above)

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County Museum, American Artists as Print Makers, 1963, no. 103

James Goodman Gallery, Sales Catalogue, Buffalo, New York, Spring 1966, no. 19, p. 6 (as Houghton Farm Series)

Lloyd Goodrich & Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer: 1877 through 1881, vol. III, New York, 2008, no. 778, p. 212, illustrated

Winslow Homer visited Houghton Farm for the first time in the summer of 1876 and was immediately enchanted by its idyllic pastoral scenery. Nestled in the Hudson River Valley town of Mountainville, New York, the farm belonged to Lawson Valentine, a principal patron and childhood friend of the artist. The property inspired Homer to produce an extensive and distinctive body of work that initiated his mature period. Executed primarily between 1877 and 1879, these watercolors and drawings capture a snapshot of life on the farm and are unified by their subject matter, which includes children, farm animals, and shepherdesses. Works from this period, such as A Rural Couple, not only illustrate Homer’s fascination with the rustic setting, but also capture the deeply personal connection he felt with the local inhabitants.