Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"They cannot better die than for their natural lord," said Dick
Alternate Title(s):Dick Spreads the Alarm; Master Richard Shelton
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Anonymous gift, 1996
Accession number: 96.13
Label Copy:
Occasionally Wyeth would use techniques for his illustrations that he had explored and refined in his personal work. Between 1915 and 1917, Wyeth was intrigued by the color theories of Augustus Tack and by the paintings of Giovanni Segantini. Conservator Joyce Hill Stoner has identified a group of Wyeth’s landscapes from the period that are painted in a style similar to Segantini’s long "rope-like" brushstrokes. In this illustration for The Black Arrow, Wyeth uses the same technique.
Occasionally Wyeth would use techniques for his illustrations that he had explored and refined in his personal work. Between 1915 and 1917, Wyeth was intrigued by the color theories of Augustus Tack and by the paintings of Giovanni Segantini. Conservator Joyce Hill Stoner has identified a group of Wyeth’s landscapes from the period that are painted in a style similar to Segantini’s long "rope-like" brushstrokes. In this illustration for The Black Arrow, Wyeth uses the same technique.
Research Number: NCW: 394
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY; Joseph Hawley Chapin; [?]; (James Graham & Sons, New York, NY, 1965-66); [possibly Greenwood Book Store, Wilmington, DE); private collection, DE
Exhibition HistoryBrooklyn, NY, 1920, no. 18, as "Dick Spreads the Alarm"; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 83 as "Master Richard Shelton"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1985; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(1), checklist p. 27; Chadds Ford, PA, 1990 (1); Harrisburg, PA, Governor's Residence, "The Wyeths in Pennsylvania: Three Generations," April 3 - July 31, 2000; Akron, OH, Akron Museum of Art, June 15 - Sept. 1, 2002, and Lawrence, KS, Spencer Museum of Art, Sept. 21 - Nov. 17, 2002, "N. C. Wyeth from the Brandywine River Museum Collection"; Rockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Every Picture Tells a Story," April 27-Dec. 30, 2013;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 257; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.606, p. 321
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition of The Black Arrow which the artist read to prepare for this commission, with notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (NCWS.95.163).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 1997