Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln Entering the Senate Chamber Before the Inauguration c. 1861

Editor: So, here we have Winslow Homer’s print, “Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln Entering the Senate Chamber Before the Inauguration,” made around 1861. It's a fairly straightforward scene, rendered with a delicate touch in engraving. It feels like a prelude, a quiet moment before a momentous occasion, rendered in shades of grey, heavy with anticipation... What stands out to you as you look at it? Curator: That "prelude" feeling is spot on! It whispers of change, doesn't it? Like that moment right before dawn when the light is just starting to shift. For me, I see a dance of power— the old guard literally escorting in the new. There's this feeling of reluctant transition, perhaps even a touch of…dread? The body language! Look at Buchanan; he's practically slumping. Makes you wonder what unspoken anxieties were hanging in the air. Do you pick up on any of that? Editor: Definitely! Buchanan's posture compared to Lincoln’s…it's night and day! There's such a contrast. What do you think the presence of the ship above the main scene alludes to? Curator: Ah, a brilliant catch! That's the USS Harriet Lane. It’s there to safeguard the inauguration and signals America's naval might. Symbolically? Perhaps a vessel charting a course through troubled waters…waters that were about to get a whole lot stormier. See how the narrative moves between individual and national turmoil? The engraving lets us perceive something ominous in an otherwise solemn transfer of power. Editor: I hadn't thought about it that way! I was too caught up in the faces. Seeing the broader context helps me understand Homer’s attention to detail and use of metaphor. Curator: Exactly! Sometimes, it’s not about *what* you see, but how you *feel* it—that is, if we allow art to open a dialogue with ourselves, of course! A dialogue in shades of grey that somehow speaks volumes.