1859 Early Winslow Homer "Skating at Boston" (Met & Smithsonian) Mar 12

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · March 12, 1859
Complete Issue · New York

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A collector's issue of the highest significance — one of Winslow Homer's earliest published works, "Skating at Boston," held in the permanent collections of both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, alongside the scandalous murder of Philip Barton Key by Congressman Daniel Sickles — the most sensational crime of 1859 — and the last hours of Congress. One of the most artistically and historically significant issues in the entire antebellum Harper's Weekly run. Price this as a premium issue.

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🎨 WINSLOW HOMER — "SKATING AT BOSTON" — EARLY MASTERWORK
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⛸️ FULL PAGE — "SKATING AT BOSTON" — BY WINSLOW HOMER
A full-page wood engraving by Winslow Homer — one of his earliest published works, held in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession No. 392275, image 9¼ × 13¾ in., cataloged in William Howe Downes's authoritative "The Life and Work of Winslow Homer," 1911, and Barbara Gelman's "The Wood Engravings of Winslow Homer," 1969) and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Accession No. 1996.63.31, the Ray Austrian Collection). In March 1859 Homer was 22 years old, still working from Boston before his move to New York later that same year — and "Skating at Boston" is among the first of his great Harper's Weekly works that would define American illustration for the next three decades. The Boston Common skating pond scene captures Homer's characteristic warmth and observational precision at the very beginning of his career, foreshadowing the skating, outdoor recreation, and social scene subjects that would preoccupy him throughout his life. Homer would go on to cover the Civil War for Harper's, produce the celebrated "Homeward Bound" (1867, now in the Smithsonian), the Parisian Ball prints (1867, now in the Art Institute of Chicago and Delaware Art Museum), and dozens of other museum-held works — all first published in this same newspaper. This original print from the complete issue is the actual page on which Homer's "Skating at Boston" was first published. An original print — not a reproduction — of a work held by two of the greatest art museums in America.

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⚖️ THE SICKLES MURDER — SCANDAL OF THE CENTURY
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💀 HALF PAGE — "HOMICIDE OF P. BARTON KEY BY HON. DANIEL SICKLES AT WASHINGTON"
A half-page illustration of the most sensational crime of 1859 — Congressman Daniel Sickles's murder of Philip Barton Key II (son of Francis Scott Key, author of The Star-Spangled Banner) in broad daylight in Lafayette Square across from the White House on February 27, 1859, just thirteen days before this issue. Sickles had discovered that Key, a Washington socialite and U.S. Attorney, was having an affair with his wife Teresa. Sickles confronted Key in the street and shot him dead in front of horrified witnesses. The trial that followed was a national sensation — Sickles became the first American defendant ever acquitted on grounds of temporary insanity, defended by Edwin Stanton (who would become Lincoln's Secretary of War). Sickles went on to command a Union corps at Gettysburg, where he lost his leg, and later served as American Minister to Spain. His preserved leg bone is still on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington. This Harper's Weekly illustration, published twelve days after the murder, is a primary document of one of the most sensational crimes and trials of the Antebellum era.

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🏛️ THE LAST HOURS OF CONGRESS
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🏛️ FRONT PAGE — "THE LAST HOURS OF CONGRESS, MARCH, 1858"
A front-page illustration of Congress in its final chaotic hours of session — a vivid piece of Antebellum American political history, capturing the legislative body in the charged atmosphere of the late 1850s when the slavery crisis was tearing the nation apart.

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📋 CONDITION
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I photograph every page of every issue so you can inspect the condition closely before purchasing. Please review all images carefully and don't hesitate to ask any questions — I'm happy to provide additional detail or close-up shots of any page, illustration, or area of concern before you buy.

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📌 DETAILS
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Publication ········ Harper's Weekly
Date ··············· March 12, 1859
City ··············· New York
Format ············· Illustrated newspaper, complete in 16 pages

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📦 SHIPPING & PRESERVATION
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• Stored in an acid-free protective bag and flat-shipped in a padded envelope with heavy cardboard reinforcement
• Fully tracked for your peace of mind

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🔍 SEO TAGS
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