Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
After a long look I saw that he did not resume his narrative. By that I knew that the stranger was troubling him.
Medium: Oil on canvas (black and white)
Date: 1911
Dimensions:
46 5/8 × 37 5/8 in. (118.4 × 95.6 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Museum Volunteers' Purchase Fund, 2009
Accession number: 2009.8
Label Copy:
Wyeth painted the illustrations for this story at the same time he was working on the Treasure Island commission. This image, in particular, demonstrates Wyeth’s ability to create memorable characters that add such energy to the narrative. And even though Wyeth was a master colorist, as demonstrated in the Treasure Island paintings, he could create an equally powerful composition using a gray scale palette.
Wyeth painted the illustrations for this story at the same time he was working on the Treasure Island commission. This image, in particular, demonstrates Wyeth’s ability to create memorable characters that add such energy to the narrative. And even though Wyeth was a master colorist, as demonstrated in the Treasure Island paintings, he could create an equally powerful composition using a gray scale palette.
Research Number: NCW: 661
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY; Mrs. A. N. Wyeth, Needham, MA; gift to Alfretta Archibald Butterfield, and descended in family to 8/2006
Exhibition HistoryRockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Every Picture Tells a Story," April 27-Dec. 30, 2013;
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 381; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 275; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.363, p. 236
Curatorial RemarksIn addition to the publication citation, the Scribner's inventory card (Brandywine River Museum, Scribner's Archives, #28604) notes that the painting was given to the artist's mother, Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth. Mrs. Wyeth later gave it to a friend of hers who had been a "mother's helper" to the Wyeth boys for several years.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Digital photography from artwork; 2. preconservation photography, 2007
Photo Credit:1. and 2. courtesy of Williamstown Art Conservation Center