Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Mysterious Island, cover illustration
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1918
Dimensions:
38 5/8 × 28 3/16 in. (98.1 × 71.6 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. S. Hallock du Pont, Jr., 1992
Accession number: 92.8.1
Label Copy:
In his cover illustration for Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island, N. C. Wyeth presents the daring escapade that sets the story’s adventure in motion. The five characters (and one dog) featured on the cover are escaped prisoners of war at the Siege of Richmond during the American Civil War. The group takes flight on a hydrogen-filled observation balloon. As depicted by Wyeth, they precariously perch on the remnant of the balloon as it is carried into darkness by a strong wind. The castaways finally land on the titular "Mysterious Island," which they eventually learn is the secret base for the legendary Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus.
In his cover illustration for Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island, N. C. Wyeth presents the daring escapade that sets the story’s adventure in motion. The five characters (and one dog) featured on the cover are escaped prisoners of war at the Siege of Richmond during the American Civil War. The group takes flight on a hydrogen-filled observation balloon. As depicted by Wyeth, they precariously perch on the remnant of the balloon as it is carried into darkness by a strong wind. The castaways finally land on the titular "Mysterious Island," which they eventually learn is the secret base for the legendary Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus.
Research Number: NCW: 235
InscribedLower left: N. C. Wyeth; inscribed, lower right: © C.S.S.
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY, 1918-1975; [Frank E. Fowler]; Collection of Mr. and Mrs. S. Hallock du Pont, Jr., 1975-1991
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, 1976(1), as "title page" in error; Chadds Ford, PA, 1978 (again as "title page"); Morristown, NJ, 1983, no. 4; Chicago, IL, 1997, no. 10; 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"; Rockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Every Picture Tells a Story," April 27-Dec. 30, 2013;
References
"Stouthearted Heroes of a Beloved Painter," Life Magazine, vol. 43, no. 24 (Dec. 9, 1957), color illus. ps. 94-95; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 221; Betsy Fahlman, Artists of the Commonwealth: Realism and Its Response in Pennsylvania Painting, 1900-1950 (Greensberg, PA: Westmoreland Museum of American Art, 2006); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.709, p. 366
Curatorial RemarksWyeth used the cover image for The Mysterious Island as an enticement to the reader, who, even before opening the book, has joined Verne's band of characters as they are blown towards Lincoln Island.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 1997
On view