On this day in 1836, American landscape painter Winslow Homer was born in Boston, Massachusetts.Image: Winslow Homer / Wikimedia CommonsHomer was the second of three sons born to Charles Savage Homer and Henrietta Maria Benson. He came from a long line of New England families from both of his parents. As a child, he was encourage by his mother to pursue his interests in painting.Early in his career, Homer worked as a lithographer and then as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Homer was sent to the front lines to create drawings for the periodical. He not only illustrated scenes of battle, but also images of everyday camp life.In his later works, Homer worked extensively with watercolor, painting landscapes, idyllic scenes of farm life, and marine subjects. Today, he is remembered as one of the preeminent painters of 19th century American art. View Winslow Homer’s Geni Profile iframe{ border: 1px solid #999; } iframe{ border: 1px solid #999; } The post Profile of the Day: Winslow Homer first appeared on About Geni.