Albert Post (1843-1872)

In 1861, the illustrated journal Harper’s Weekly hired Winslow Homer to accompany the Union Army as an “artist correspondent.” Homer’s portrait of Albert Kintzing Post, a second lieutenant in the 45th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry, depicts him as a dapper and self-confident gentleman soldier. According to Post’s descendants, Homer gave the portrait to Post as repayment for a loan.

While Homer based the majority of his Civil War paintings and illustrations on the sketches he made in the field, this work is based on a tintype—a metal plate bearing a photographic image. Commercial photography flourished during the Civil War, due to public demand for photographic images of the conflict, and for portraits of soldiers who might never return to their families. The widely heralded “realism” of these photographs influenced the techniques of many American artists, including Homer.