Eight Bells

A remarque, in the form of an anchor between two ship’s clocks, is etched in the lower left corner of the plate. The piece was commissioned in 1941 by William M. Ivins, Curator of Prints for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and printed by Charles S. White. Provenance: Arthur H. Harlow & co., Inc. 42 East 57th Street, New York. Catalogue reference: Goodrich no. 96 (Pl.94).

This etching is one of eight plates created by Homer during a unique phase of his career between 1884 through 1889 in which he concentrated almost solely on etching. In 1887 Homer etched this his largest plate to date based on his oil of the same title of the year before. The painting is the smallest of his deep-sea paintings of this period but in some way is also the finest. The image depicts two bearded sailors going about their immemorial duties amid the tumbled waste of waters. They are presented with heroic simplicity and strength, symbolic of man’s courage and skill matched against the power of the ocean.

The etching is nearly as large as the painting on which it is based. However, the scale of the figures has been increased and there are other slight changes apparent in the etching, which contribute to a much more dramatic overall effect. Here, as in all his etchings, Homer has not approached the etching as a copy of the painting; it is a re-creating of the subject in another medium. The drawing throughout is not that of a copyist but of a graphic artist building his forms anew.

George W.H. Ritchie and his assistant Charles S. White printed impressions of “Eight Bells” between 1887 and 1900 in Ritchie’s New York shop. Upon his retirement Ritchie sold his shop to White. The sale included five of Homer’s plates. In 1941 William M. Ivins, Curator of Prints, purchased the plates at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who commissioned White to print impressions from them. The plates remain in the collection of the museum.