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Study for "Searchlight, Harbor Entrance, Santiago de Cuba"

Winslow Homer American
1885
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Homer sketched these drawings of Morro Castle on-site while exploring Santiago de Cuba in February 1885. Built by the Spanish in the seventeenth century, the fortress captivated travelers from the United States, who marveled at its impressive size and age. Originally a defense against pirates, Morro was later used by the Spanish colonial government as a prison for Cuban insurrectionists, several of whom were executed there around the time of Homer’s visit. This context lends his compositions a possible political dimension. Rather than picture the stronghold on its formidable perch above sea level, the artist instead provides views from within, near where the killings took place.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Study for "Searchlight, Harbor Entrance, Santiago de Cuba"
  • Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
  • Date: 1885
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Graphite and chalk on gray paper
  • Dimensions: 11 x 18 5/8 in. (27.9 x 47.3 cm)
    Framed: 15 1/2 x 19 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. (39.4 x 49.5 x 3.2 cm)
  • Credit Line: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr. (1912-12-1)
  • Rights and Reproduction: Courtesy Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing