Posted by

Many years ago, I purchased on eBay a small artist’s sketchbook documenting a trip to Sanford Florida and the St. Johns River in March of 1890. Sanford is across Lake Monroe from Enterprise, Florida where Homer stayed February, March 1890. The sketchbook contains seven small watercolors and many line drawings of scenes on the St. Johns River as well as an itinerary of the trip and expenses.

When I first examined the sketchbook the palm trees immediately reminded me of similar work by Winslow Homer on the Homosassa River.

In July of 2002 I contacted Sotheby’s who referred me to Helen Cooper, Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at Yale University Art Gallery. Dr. Cooper replied, “In my judgment, the artist is not Winslow Homer. Homer’s drawing style was more summary and crip.”

Twenty-four years later I continue to believe this may be a lost Winslow Homer notebook, for the following reasons.

  1. The notebook dates from February- March 1890 and mentions Sanford, Florida on the St. Johns River. Homer was on the St. Johns River, staying at the Brock House Hotel in Enterprise, just across from Sanford, February-March 1890.
  2. The sketch book was purchased at P. J. Ulrich’s artist’s supply shop on 12th Street and 4th Avenue in Manhattan, just around the corner from the Century Club where Homer exhibited, and 2 blocks from Homer’s old studio on 10th St.
  3. Patti Hannaway in her book Winslow Homer In The Tropics comments on page 85 regarding the Gulf Stream, “Homer sensed its tremendous force as he drew practice sketches in his ever present pocket notebook.”
  4. The handwriting, although small on a 3 by 5-inch page, looks to me like it could be Homer’s. The watercolors remind me of Homer.
  5. There could not have been many other New York watercolorists from lower Manhattan, who were working on the St. Johns in February-March 1890.
  6. I have compared this notebook with the Homer notebooks from the Archives of American Art, copied from the originals at Bowdoin College. The handwriting and the expense notes look similar.

I am posting pages from the sketchbook in the hope that another eye, another expert, or another lover of Winslow Homer’s work can suggest where we go next.