The Artist in the Country

This amusing vignette documents Homer’s own activity as a plein-air painter. Although the artist is portrayed from behind, his porkpie hat and moustache clearly resemble Homer’s own. Intent upon his canvas of a “wilderness” subject, the painter sits on a campstool at a portable easel under a white umbrella. A knapsack in the right foreground is evidence of the overland trek required to reach such a remote site. Nevertheless, the popularity of the White Mountains wilderness as a tourist destination is also indicated by the presence of a well-dressed young lady who, like the reader, watches the artist at work.