Audio commentary by Kate Clarke Lemay, Historian, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution  

Transcription of audio:

This painting demonstrates two of the most interesting hallmarks of Winslow Homer's career– a focus on technology and a focus on the hunt. And so in the focus on technology, you can see the presence of U.S. naval ships through the beam of the searchlight, which was the most cutting-edge technology of the time. That is what those white, filmy, conical shapes are. Homer was really interested in technology, so it's not surprising that he would create a contrast between the technology of the searchlight with that antiquated technology, if you will, of the 17th century canon, which for Homer is an oblique reference to the outdated, crumbling empire of Spain. Another hallmark that we see is the hunt. Homer would paint animals on the hunt right before the kill. And something similar is happening here. The Bay of Santiago's mouth of the harbor was only 400 feet wide. And so unfortunately for the Spanish, once they had retreated into the bay, they were trapped. And so the U.S. Navy is just biding its time, waiting for the Spanish to pluck up the courage to maneuver their boats and attempt their escape. And when they did, on July 3 of 1898, the U.S. Navy sunk every ship.

– I am Kate Clarke Lemay. I'm a historian at the National Portrait Gallery, and I'm co-curator of “1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions.”