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A Visit from the Old Mistress


In Winslow Homer’s 1876 painting, A Visit from the Old Mistress, the living conditions of these former slaves would appear not to have improved since before the time of the Civil War. Their dwelling is humble, and their homespun clothing is shabby. Yet the relationship between them and their former mistress is very different. The mistress clearly assumes the stature of a guest in the home of others. She now stands while one of her former servants sits in a chair. Homer caught the awkward tension of these women whose years of forced bondage never fostered in them a sense of loyalty or affection for their former overseer.


Winslow Homer (1836–1910)
Oil on canvas, 1876
Smithsonian American Art Museum

 

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