Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"Oh, gentle knight," said la Belle Isolde, "full woe am I of thy departing"
Alternate Title(s):Tristan and Isolde; "Oh, Gentle Knight, " Said La Belle Isolde, "Full Woe Am I of Thy Departing" (Sir Tristram and La Belle Isolde in the Garden)"
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1917
Dimensions:
39 3/4 × 32 in. (101 × 81.3 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Gift of Gertrude Mellon, 1981
Accession number: 81.35
Research Number: NCW: 426
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); Label on stretcher: A5672; label on stretcher: WYETH, N. C. #12852 / "Oh, gentle knight," "Full woe I am of thy . . ." / THE BOY'S KING ARTHUR / Facing p. 130 Pub. Oct. 1917
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY; Mr. Charles Scribner, Jr, New York, NY; (?); (Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, by 1957 through at least 1965); (?); (Richard Withington, Inc. auction, Andover, MA, Jan. 9, 1971); (?); Mrs. Gertrude A. Mellon, Ligonier, PA
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1957, no. 51, as "Tristan and Isolde"; Lubbock, TX, 1959, no. 5, as "Tristan and Isolde"; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 88, as "Tristan and Isolde"; Marietta, GA, 1998, no numbers, as "Oh, Gentle Knight, " Said La Belle Isolde, "Full Woe Am I of Thy Departing" (Sir Tristram and La Belle Isolde in the Garden)"; Kalamazoo, MI, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, "The Wyeths, America's Artists," Jan. 15-April 17, 2011; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, "Enchanted Castles and Noble Knights," Nov. 28, 2014-Jan. 4, 2015
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers., 1972), p. 209; Brandywine River Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, 1969-1989 (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine Conservancy. 1991), p. 206; Kate F. Jennings, N. C. Wyeth (New York, NY: Brompton Books Corp., Crescent Books, 1992), color illustration, p. 55; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.667, p. 348
Curatorial RemarksThis illustration was published in the 1917 edition of The Boy's King Arthur but not used in the 1924 edition and a very poor reproduction appeared in the post 1952 edition.
The Brandywine River Museum of Art holds the copy of the Boy's King Arthur that Wyeth read in preparation for this commission (NCWS.95.171, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908. Illustrations by Alfred Kappes) and marked with notes as he selected the scenes to picture.
The Brandywine River Museum of Art holds the copy of the Boy's King Arthur that Wyeth read in preparation for this commission (NCWS.95.171, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908. Illustrations by Alfred Kappes) and marked with notes as he selected the scenes to picture.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting