Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Three Friends
Alternate Title(s):Thor and his Friends; Thor's Unlucky Journey; Thor's Wonderful Journey
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: ca. 1939
Dimensions:
28 1/2 × 20 1/2 in. (72.4 × 52.1 cm)
George Arthur Stetson II, California
Accession number: SUPP2000.1008
Research Number: NCW: 1008
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); on reverse, Renaissance Panel label, dated 10/18/39, no. 818
ProvenanceDr. George Arthur Stetson, West Chester, PA, 1946; Dr. George Edward Stetson, Bloomsburg, PA; George Arthur Stetson II, CA, to 2019; [New York, NY, Sotheby's, Nov. 19, 2019, lot no. ]
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1946, no. 30 as "The Three Friends"
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income tax notes for 1940, unpublished (Brandywine River Museum of Art, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Research Center); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 208; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1258, p. 568
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds an earlier, unillustrated edition of this book that the artist used to plan his pictures (NCWS.95.595). From the markings in "Thor's Wonderful Journey," it seems as if Wyeth had considered illustrating an earlier passage (Thor's discovery of the giant Skrymer) and then decided on the paragraph "All day long he walked steadily on...." The painting was listed as "Thor and his Friends" in the artist's 1940 income tax notes, in which he noted the purchase of a "book on clouds" as part of the expenses for the panel. The Brandywine River Museum also holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.70) of the composition drawing, which was used in the transfer of the design from paper to panel.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Peter Brenner Photography, 8/2004