Brandywine Museum of Art/Works/The Siege of the Round-House It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a roar, and then a shout from Alan/

The Siege of the Round-House It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a roar, and then a shout from Alan

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

The Siege of the Round-House
It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a roar, and then a shout from Alan

Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1913
Dimensions:
40 × 32 1/8 in. (101.6 × 81.6 cm)

Brandywine River Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Russell G. Colt, 1986

Accession number: 86.7.6
Research Number: NCW: 167
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY; Mr. Russell G. Colt, New York, NY
Exhibition HistoryHarrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 99; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 66; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(2), no. 25, illus. in color p. 26; Chadds Ford, PA, 1990 (1); Newport News, VA, Mariners Museum, "Under the Black Flag: Life Among the Pirates," Aug. 30, 1997 - Jan. 4, 1998, (also Philadelphia, PA, Independence Seaport Museum, Feb. 6 - Aug. 16, 1998); Easton, MD, Academy of the Arts, "America's Storytellers: N. C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle", Dec. 2, 1999 - Jan. 22, 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"; Kalamazoo, MI, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, "The Wyeths, America's Artists," Jan. 15-April 17, 2011; Rockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Every Picture Tells a Story," April 27-Dec. 30, 2013;
References ____, "The Stouthearted Heroes of a Beloved Painter," Life Magazine, vol. 43, no. 24 (Dec. 9, 1957), illus. p. 89; Reader's Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers, illustrated vol. 7, p. 45 (Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, 1968);Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals, (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219, illus. in color p. 90; Wanda M. Corn, The Art of Andrew Wyeth, (Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1973), illus. in b/w p. 129; Brandywine River Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, 1969-1989 (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine Conservancy, 1991), p. 206, illus. in color p. 205; Richard Meryman, Andrew Wyeth: First Impressions, (New York: Abrams, 1991), illus. in color, p. 12; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.469, p. 270, 271; Christine B. Podmaniczky, "N. C. Wyeth, American Regionalist" in Rural Modern, American Art Beyond the City (NY: Rizzoli, 2016), illus. in color, p. 158;
Curatorial RemarksIn a letter dated by N. C. Wyeth "Chadds Ford / Friday afternoon" (dated May 11, 1913 by Betsy James Wyeth), the artist wrote: "Henriette and Denney, my model, are still in the studio. He is dressed gaudily in a French grenadier's uniform and she is carried away by the red, blue, white and silver buttons. . . . Alan Breck's defense of the Round House is coming along bravely and is bound to make a compelling picture. However, I am disappointed in the development of the color. It may come better as I finish the piece." In working on this painting, the artist knew that Howard Pyle had chosen to illustrate the same scene for Scribner's 1895 edition of the book ("I saw him pass his sword through the mate's body," collection of the Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE). In perhaps a wink to Pyle's work, Wyeth showed the same fight from the opposite side of the doorway.
Notes and insertions found in Wyeth's copy of "Bonnie Scotland Painted by Sutton Palmer" by A. R. Hope Moncrieff (A. & C. Black, 1912), suggest that the artist used this book (NCWS.95.608) as a visual resource for the Kidnapped paintings.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:no credit on transparency