Two Sketches of an Officer

Winslow Homer's preliminary sketches capture a mounted cavalry officer in studied poses—front-facing, profile, and mounted positions—executed with economical pen lines over faint pencil underdrawing. The sheet demonstrates Homer's working method: rapid figure studies exploring gesture, uniform detail, and spatial relationships before committing to finished composition. These sketches likely served as reference for a larger narrative work documenting Civil War military life. Homer's direct observational approach and ability to render soldiers with anatomical precision established his reputation as a war correspondent and illustrator for *Harper's Weekly*. His economical line work and focus on human form anticipated visual strategies that would define twentieth-century sequential art.