“Home Duty”

WHEN NORMAN ROCKWELL WAS A young illustrator, in his early twenties, Clyde Forsythe—a cartoonist with whom he shared a studio at the time—told him that if he wanted to make something of himself, he should shoot for the stars. The higher Rockwell's aim, Forsythe argued, the more he was likely to achieve.

Rockwell took this advice to heart. The top market for illustrators at that time was The Saturday Evening Post—a weekly that had already been in existence for well over one hundred years—and the young hopeful decided to try his luck where the competition would be stiffest.

He painted two covers and made a sketch for a third, then took the train to Philadelphia, where he presented his work to Walter Dower, who was then the Post's art editor. Rockwell was left to wait impatiently while Dower studied the work. When the art editor reappeared, it was to inform Rockwell that the magazine was prepared to buy both of the finished works, wanted him to develop the sketch for a third cover and was ready to commission three more.

Rockwell and the Post would be associated for the next forty-seven years. This Post cover, which appeared in May 1916, was Rockwell's first

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