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Charlotte Mason Picture Study Aid Winslow Homer

Snap the Whip

1872
oil on canvas
56 cm × 91.4 cm
Butler Institute of American Art,
Youngstown, Ohio

KEY TOPICS:

• In this piece, a group of boys can be seen outside of a one-room schoolhouse playing a game

of snap-the-whip. Behind the schoolhouse are tree-covered hills and a cloudy sky. In the

distance, other children can be seen playing various games or watching others play.

• This piece and a nearly identical painting, which is in the collection of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, were both painted in 1872. The Met painting is thought to possibly be a

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study for this one, though studies in oil were rare for Homer.
• In The Young Folks Cyclopædia of Games and Sports, the game is described like this: “SNAP THE
WHIP, an out-door game played by any number of persons, who stand side by side in line, holding

hands. The line is usually formed in order of size, the largest players at one end, and the smallest at

the other. All run forward till three or four at the large end suddenly stop, causing the rest of the line

to swing around sharply like the lash of a whip when it is snapped. The strain is so great that usually
two or more of the players are forced to let go their hands, and those at the smaller end are thrown

down if they are not careful.”
7

6 (Spassky)
7 (Champlin and Bostwick)

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