The Veteran in a New Field
The Veteran in a New Field is a mid 19th-century painting by American artist Winslow Homer. Done in oil on canvas, the painting depicts a farmer harvesting wheat in a field. Painted during the concluding year of the American Civil War, the painting is set in the conflict's aftermath and embodies the postwar demilitarization of American society. Description. "Veteran" was painted by Homer in 1865, the concluding year of the American Civil War. The titular veteran is seen harvesting stalks of wheat with a scythe—a possible representation of the large loss  of life during the recent conflict. Homer's inclusion of wheat - a pronouncedly Northern crop - may symbolize the Union victory over the South. As noted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the veteran can be identified as a former Union soldier by his discarded jacket and canteen in the right foreground of the painting. Homer sold the painting in 1866. The painting was eventually donated to the Met as part of the bequest of Adelaide Milton de Groot in 1967.