A Sick Chicken
1874 National Gallery of Art
About this artwork
This watercolor depicts a young woman standing in a yard, tenderly cradling a small, sick chicken in her hands. The scene is set against a simple farm structure with a potted plant display in the background.
Did you know?
Winslow Homer spent time in Gloucester, Massachusetts, during the early 1870s, where he created many watercolors focusing on rural and domestic life. This piece captures a quiet, empathetic moment of human-animal interaction, which was a recurring theme in his genre paintings of the period. The artist's transition to watercolor in the 1870s helped define his reputation as a master of light and atmospheric narrative in American art.
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A Sick Chicken
Winslow Homer, 1874
