Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Portrait of Josiah Marvel
Alternate Title(s):Senator Josiah Marvel
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1926
Dimensions:
43 × 34 1/4 in. (109.2 × 87 cm)
Corporation Service Company Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1166
Research Number: NCW: 1166
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 19.26; carved into reverse of frame member: YATES
ProvenanceJosiah Marvel, 1926; descended in family
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1926, no. 14
References
William P. Frank, "Fine Exhibition of Art Awaiting Opening Tonight," (Wilmington, DE) Every Evening, Nov. 16, 1926, p. 17; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.28, p. 810
Curatorial Remarks"In fifteen minutes Josiah Marvel, who is having me paint his portrait, comes for a sitting" (NCW to ANW, Sept. 9, 1926, Wyeth Family Archives).
"The portrait of Senator Marvel is completed and passed the acid test of inspection by his family. It is really a bulls-eye as a portriat. Done very closely, which means that I derived much good from it as a study although it leaves a good deal to be desired from the standpoint of interpretive painting and virtuosity" (NCW to Andrew Newell Wyeth, "I have just put the finishing touches..." and dated in another hand Sept. 17, 1926, WFA). Josiah Marvel (1866-1930) was a distinguished Delaware attorney who worked in corporate law and was prominent in municipal and charitable affairs. (see "The Man Who Put Delaware 'Over the Top,'" in Delaware Magazine, vol. 1, no. 2 (June 1919), p. 54). Marvel had watched Wyeth's career for a long time, for Wyeth wrote in 1911, "Judge Josiah Marvel of Wilmington called on me Sunday--a prospective buyer of three or four of my originals (an illustration and landscapes). I would not sell when I found how earnest and serious he was to surround himself and family of seven children with good art. I advised him to wait unitl I could offer him something which I considered better, something that he would grow to like, rather than grow tired of" (NCW to "Dear Folks, Well, I've been about all in this week..." and dated in another hand Nov. 14, 1911, Wyeth Family Archives).
The painting retains its original frame, carved by the Philadelphia framemaker Philip N. Yates.
"The portrait of Senator Marvel is completed and passed the acid test of inspection by his family. It is really a bulls-eye as a portriat. Done very closely, which means that I derived much good from it as a study although it leaves a good deal to be desired from the standpoint of interpretive painting and virtuosity" (NCW to Andrew Newell Wyeth, "I have just put the finishing touches..." and dated in another hand Sept. 17, 1926, WFA). Josiah Marvel (1866-1930) was a distinguished Delaware attorney who worked in corporate law and was prominent in municipal and charitable affairs. (see "The Man Who Put Delaware 'Over the Top,'" in Delaware Magazine, vol. 1, no. 2 (June 1919), p. 54). Marvel had watched Wyeth's career for a long time, for Wyeth wrote in 1911, "Judge Josiah Marvel of Wilmington called on me Sunday--a prospective buyer of three or four of my originals (an illustration and landscapes). I would not sell when I found how earnest and serious he was to surround himself and family of seven children with good art. I advised him to wait unitl I could offer him something which I considered better, something that he would grow to like, rather than grow tired of" (NCW to "Dear Folks, Well, I've been about all in this week..." and dated in another hand Nov. 14, 1911, Wyeth Family Archives).
The painting retains its original frame, carved by the Philadelphia framemaker Philip N. Yates.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 9/6/2006