Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Apotheosis of Franklin, presentation painting
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1925
Dimensions:
49 3/8 × 24 5/8 in. (125.4 × 62.5 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Gift of American Savings Bank, 1984
Accession number: 84.22
Label Copy:
The artist presented this painting to the directors of the Franklin Savings Bank to win their approval for a mural destined for one of their main New York offices. In Wyeth’s words, "The central figure of this group represents the benign and mature figure of Benjamin Franklin. About him are his great contemporaries, men who worked with him and through him for the building of this Nation. Lifting above them, out of the fullness of autumn foliage, looms the familiar belfry of Independence Hall in Philadelphia--symbol of Liberty." It is likely that the bank directors suggested the subject, seeing the figure of Franklin as a link between the stability of the nation and the institution.
To transfer the design from the presentation painting to the mural canvas, Wyeth had two lantern slides made from the presentation painting, one of the bottom half of the image and one of the top half of the image (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1825.13 and .14). He then projected each slide onto to a 15 x 15 foot piece of canvas, which would yield a 30 x 15 foot mural once installed in place.
The artist presented this painting to the directors of the Franklin Savings Bank to win their approval for a mural destined for one of their main New York offices. In Wyeth’s words, "The central figure of this group represents the benign and mature figure of Benjamin Franklin. About him are his great contemporaries, men who worked with him and through him for the building of this Nation. Lifting above them, out of the fullness of autumn foliage, looms the familiar belfry of Independence Hall in Philadelphia--symbol of Liberty." It is likely that the bank directors suggested the subject, seeing the figure of Franklin as a link between the stability of the nation and the institution.
To transfer the design from the presentation painting to the mural canvas, Wyeth had two lantern slides made from the presentation painting, one of the bottom half of the image and one of the top half of the image (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1825.13 and .14). He then projected each slide onto to a 15 x 15 foot piece of canvas, which would yield a 30 x 15 foot mural once installed in place.
Research Number: NCW: 458
ProvenanceThe Franklin Savings Bank, New York, NY, 1926-1981; American Savings Bank, New York, NY, 1981-1984
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1928(3), no. 108; Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary, "Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World," (St. Louis, Houston, Denver, Atlanta), June, 2006 - Oct. 2007
References
Brandywine River Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, 1969-1989 (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine Conservancy, 1991), p. 214; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.31, p. 612, 613
Curatorial RemarksThis was the painting the artist presented to the directors of the American Savings Bank for approval. Wyeth had two lantern slides made from the painting, one of the bottom half of the image and one of the top half of the image (Brandywine River Museum of Art, NCWS.95.1825.13 and .14). This would correspond to the manner in which he worked on the final version, describing to his father the "two panels 15 x 15 ft." that made up the mural, "the lower half...contain(ing) the 23 figures, the upper half ...mainly architecture and sky...." The lantern slide of the top of the preliminary painting shows that the original canvas was rectangular in shape even though the image itself had a rounded top. The painting was removed from an old backing board, wax-lined, and applied to a shaped, plywood strainer in 1985.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 10/2000