A fact from The Gulf Stream (painting) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 7 September 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that Winslow Homer sarcastically explained that the figure in The Gulf Stream(pictured) "will be rescued & returned to his friends and home, & ever after live happily."?
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Is the figure in fact "tied to the boat"? Not clear from the reproduction. It might be worth mentioning that the net floats on deck indicate it is a fishing boat, in case readers wonder how a black guy at that date got the money for a yacht like that. And that, being dismasted, the boat can only move with the current until it runs aground or is rescued. If he is in the Gulf Stream, he can't count on either until he hits Cornwall. Johnbod (talk) 21:58, 7 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I had the same misgiving re: 'tied'; it was part of an earlier edit, the comparison to Copley's painting, and I never expunged it; now done. Good point about the boat, will take a look. JNW (talk) 22:07, 7 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The Gulf Stream is an 1899 oil painting by Winslow Homer. It shows a black man in a small rudderless fishing boat struggling against the waves of the sea, and was the artist's last statement on a theme that had interested him for more than a decade. The painting is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.Painting: Winslow Homer