1878 Winslow Homer work on public display for 1st time at Massachusetts museum

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – A rare oil painting by the American artist Winslow Homer has been given as a gift to a Massachusetts museum.

Clark Art Institute in Williamstown says the 1878 commissioned portrait of Charles Prentice Howland has never been publicly exhibited, but will be on view starting Friday.

The institute says the portrait depicts the 9-year-old dressed for school with a book bag over his shoulder, posing “stiffly and perhaps impatiently” for the artist. The Boston-born Homer was a friend of the boy’s father, prominent New York judge Henry Howland, and his uncle, the artist Alfred Howland.

Clark says the painting has remained with the Howland family since 1878. Museum director Michael Conforti says the gift will add to Clark’s existing collection of Homer’s works.