Four Studies of Soldiers' Heads

Winslow Homer's pen sketch captures four military heads in profile and three-quarter views, each wearing regulation caps. The notation "Blue" indicates Homer's attention to color values in this study work. Created during the Civil War, these rapid character studies served as visual research for Homer's later illustrations and paintings of soldiers. Such sketch pages reveal the working methods of nineteenth-century illustrators who drew for newspapers and magazines—developing forms through repeated studies before translating them into finished compositions. Homer would become known for his direct, unflinching depictions of American military life and landscape.