This painting shows a woman standing in a grassy area. She is facing forward and looking down at a small white object she holds in her hands which vaguely resembles a small chick. A long white bonnet casts a shadow on her pale face. She wears a long-sleeved dress with light blue and white stripes with a black ribbon tied around her collar and a long brown apron around her waist. She stands on a wide patch of pale blue-green grass, and several brown and white chickens and small chicks walk in the grass around her. Behind her there are metal milk cans on the left, and on the right is a small red structure that could be a chicken coop. The background is filled by a large white building with a light brown porch and white beams supporting a white shingled roof. On the left is a window with dark green shutters, and in the center behind the woman is an open doorway. On the porch there is also a wooden chair and a wooden table with small pink and brown pots.
Read the visual description

This painting shows a woman standing in a grassy area. She is facing forward and looking down at a small white object she holds in her hands which vaguely resembles a small chick. A long white bonnet casts a shadow on her pale face. She wears a long-sleeved dress with light blue and white stripes with a black ribbon tied around her collar and a long brown apron around her waist. She stands on a wide patch of pale blue-green grass, and several brown and white chickens and small chicks walk in the grass around her. Behind her there are metal milk cans on the left, and on the right is a small red structure that could be a chicken coop. The background is filled by a large white building with a light brown porch and white beams supporting a white shingled roof. On the left is a window with dark green shutters, and in the center behind the woman is an open doorway. On the porch there is also a wooden chair and a wooden table with small pink and brown pots.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

A Sick Chicken

Winslow Homer

Date
1874
Medium
watercolor, gouache, and graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 24.7 x 19.7 cm (9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
1994.59.21
Credit line
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Time span
1851 to 1875
Department
CG-W

Subjects and terms

  • American
  • female
  • figure
  • Chickens
  • daily life
  • genre
  • Realist
Provenance

Lawson Valentine, NY, by 1878; Lucy Houghton Valentine (Mrs. Lawson Valentine), 1891; Almira Valentine Pulsifer (Mrs. Nathan Trowbridge Pulsifer), her daughter, 1911; Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer, NY, her son; Susan Nichols Pulsifer (Mrs. Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer), in trust, 1948; Alice Pulsifer Doyle (Mrs. Joseph Doyle), his niece, 1987; Valentine-Pulsifer Collection (sale, 1989), Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift to NGA, 1994.

Inscription

lower right in black ink: HOMER - 74

NGA object ID 89665. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.