I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!
Original title: "I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI)
kurzbeschreibung
A kneeling woman and an upright man, caught in a biblical moment, became a wood engraving by Winslow Homer in 1868; the print ran in The Galaxy magazine.
Description
Her face buried in both hands, the woman kneels while a bearded man in a suit stands beside her, looking down gravely. Long sleeves and her posture read as despair. Furniture and a curtained window appear behind the pair, and light falling from the front sharpens the outlines of figures and objects.
Context
Homer made this illustration for The Galaxy, an American literary journal published from 1866 to 1872. The subject most likely illustrates a text from the September 1868 issue. Wood engravings were then a common way to illustrate books and periodicals.
Impact
Opposing stances set up the tension: helplessness in the kneeling woman, authority in the man. The viewer is drawn into that emotional push and pull.
Technique
The image was cut into a wood block and printed from it. Fine lines and hatching render fabrics, furniture and shadows in detail. The block measures 11.7 x 17.5 cm, the sheet 24 x 15.2 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)