Winslow Homer, The Wreck

Carnegie Museum of Art

DESCRIPTION:
Assemblage of wooden struts and stretched linen canvas supporting multiple layers of oil paint and varnish, creating a surface design of a winter beach landscape with lifeboat and crew assembling to assist a shipwrecked vessel on the Maine coastline in 1896. Protective outer shell of wooden framework ornamented with plaster and gold leaf.
SIZE:
30 3/8 x 48 5/16 inches, frame: 41 ¼ x 59 x 2 ¾ inches
BREEDING:
Coastline of Maine, late 19th century
HABITAT:
Indoor, high-security space with relative humidity 50% (plus or minus 2%) and temperature of 72 degrees F (plus or minus 4 degrees).
MIGRATORY RANGE:
The painting travels extensively around the continents of North America and Europe by truck and airplane, with frequent stops in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Paris, France. Nests/hibernates in Carnegie Museum of Art, Scaiffe Gallery 6. Requires double wooden insulated high-security travel crate that is capable of floating for intercontinental migrations.
CONSERVATION CONSIDERATIONS:
Unique, non-renewable resource subject to flaking paint when exposed to environmental stresses such as vibration, fluctuations in temperature and humidity, or weather of any kind. Protect from human contact.