Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Our lives depended upon our helmsman
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1940
Dimensions:
30 × 20 1/2 in. (76.2 × 52.1 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Gift of Patricia Kerwin Herman in memory of Dr. Charles M. Kerwin, 2018
Accession number: 2018.8
Research Number: NCW: 820
InscribedLower left: TO DR. CHAS. M. KERWIN / FROM / N. C. WYETH / -1943-; on reverse, painted on panel: Captain Bligh and the Crew in the open boat. / p. 67 Men Against the Sea; adhered to panel, Renaissance Panel label , #881, dated 3/26/40
ProvenanceThe artist to 1943; gift to Dr. Charles M. Kerwin, West Chester, PA
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income tax notes for 1940 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum library); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 213; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1298, p. 584
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the copy of Pitcairn's Island (NCWS.95.604) that Wyeth read in preparation for the commission, which includes a typed copy of his initial illustrative program for the Bounty trilogy; and a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.315) made from the composition drawing that was used in the transfer of the image from paper to panel.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Brilliant Imaging Services, 2017