"She makes a grand light"

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

"She makes a grand light"

Alternate Title(s):The Burning of the Bounty
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1940
Dimensions:
30 × 20 1/2 in. (76.2 × 52.1 cm)
The Free Library of Philadelphia, Childrens Literature Research Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1067
Research Number: NCW: 1067
Inscribedlower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse, Renaissance Panel label dated 3/26/(19)40, no. 887; painted on reverse: THE BURNING OF THE BOUNTY / P. 59 P.I.
ProvenanceThe artist; anonymous donor to present collection, 1941
Exhibition HistoryStockbridge, MA, Norman Rockwell Museum of American Illustration, June 9-Oct. 28, 2018, "Keepers of the Flame: Parrish, Wyeth, Rockwell and the Narrative Tradition," p. 204
References Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 213, illustration in color p. 139; Kate F. Jennings, N. C. Wyeth (New York: Brompton Books Corp., Crescent Books, 1992), illustration in color, p. 65; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1300, p. 585
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the copy of Pitcairn's Island (NCWS.95.604) that Wyeth read in preparation for the commission, which includes a typed copy of his initial illustrative program for the Bounty trilogy; and a lantern slide of the composition drawing for this painting (NCWS.95.1825.118).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Joseph Painter, 3/2005; Conservation work by Franklin Shores