Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Abdication of Attila
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1917
Dimensions:
39 3/4 × 36 1/4 in. (101 × 92.1 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.16
Label Copy:
This painting, done on speculation rather than commission, was the result of an opportunity the artist had to study photographs of war atrocities brought to the U.S. by a German defector during World War I. Overcome by the horror, Wyeth wrote to his mother, "I am on the verge of creating a reeking cartoon--a bloody commentary on Emperor William....The Abdication of Attila is the legend for my cartoon. I will depict a throne, mountain high, built of human dead and dying (women and children conspicuous). On the summit of these writhing bodies the throne chair, which Attila the leader of the Huns is abdicating in favor of Kaiser Wilhelm. Attila, the fat, bloody monster, stands to the right center (with his generals) humbly proffering his crown to the new 'Scourge of the Human Race.' Wilhelm in bigoted ostentation is accepting it, his eyes lifted to God, his acclaimed accomplice!!!" (N. C. Wyeth to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, July 3, 1917, Wyeth Family Archives). The description goes on at great length, as the artist, first verbally and then through the picture, works out his anger at the German Kaiser.
Andrew Wyeth remembered that his father told him he tried to place the picture with Life Magazine, but was unsuccessful.
This painting, done on speculation rather than commission, was the result of an opportunity the artist had to study photographs of war atrocities brought to the U.S. by a German defector during World War I. Overcome by the horror, Wyeth wrote to his mother, "I am on the verge of creating a reeking cartoon--a bloody commentary on Emperor William....The Abdication of Attila is the legend for my cartoon. I will depict a throne, mountain high, built of human dead and dying (women and children conspicuous). On the summit of these writhing bodies the throne chair, which Attila the leader of the Huns is abdicating in favor of Kaiser Wilhelm. Attila, the fat, bloody monster, stands to the right center (with his generals) humbly proffering his crown to the new 'Scourge of the Human Race.' Wilhelm in bigoted ostentation is accepting it, his eyes lifted to God, his acclaimed accomplice!!!" (N. C. Wyeth to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, July 3, 1917, Wyeth Family Archives). The description goes on at great length, as the artist, first verbally and then through the picture, works out his anger at the German Kaiser.
Andrew Wyeth remembered that his father told him he tried to place the picture with Life Magazine, but was unsuccessful.
Research Number: NCW: 945
Inscribednone
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth
Exhibition HistoryRockland, ME, 2000, color illustration, fig. 33
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 552-553; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.697, p. 361
Curatorial RemarksThis extraordinary painting was the result of an opportunity the artist had to study photographs of war atrocities brought to the U.S. by a German defector. In a letter dated July 3, 1917, Wyeth wrote to his mother, "...I am on the verge of creating a reeking cartoon--a bloody commentary on Emperor William....The Abdication of Attila is the legend for my cartoon. I will depict a throne, mountain high, built of human dead and dying (women and children conspicuous). On the summit of these writhing bodies the throne chair, which Attila the leader of the Huns is abdicating in favor of Kaiser Wilhelm. Attila, the fat, bloody monster, stands to the right center (with his generals) humbly proffering his crown to the new 'Scourge of the Human Race.' Wilhelm in bigoted ostentation is accepting it, his eyes lifted to God, his acclaimed accomplice!!!" The description goes on at great length, as the artist, first verbally and then through the picture, works out his anger at the German Kaiser. Andrew Wyeth has stated that his father told him he tried to place with picture with Life Magazine, but was unsuccessful.
The painting was photographed in 1969, one of approximately 3 dozen paintings from the artist's studio that had been stored unstretched (Brandywine River Museum, catalogue raisonné files).
The painting was photographed in 1969, one of approximately 3 dozen paintings from the artist's studio that had been stored unstretched (Brandywine River Museum, catalogue raisonné files).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Herb Crossan, 3/2000