Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Youth. Master, I shall not fail you.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1915
Dimensions:
24 1/8 × 16 1/8 in. (61.3 × 41 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1418
Research Number: NCW: 1418
Inscribedupper right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); written in blue on reverse of canvas: (digits illegible); adhered to reverse of canvas, Scribner's label: THIS COPYRIGHTED PICTURE...; also adhered to reverse of canvas, clipped article about NCW from Time Magazine, Nov. 15, 1957
ProvenanceThe artist (returned to NCW Sept. 15, 1915, per Scribner's invnetory card # 32698); purchased ca. 1915-1919, as a wedding gift for George B. Utter and Katharine L. Wilbar Utter, and descended in family; (Skinner, Inc., Boston, MA, May 20, 2011, lot no. 518); (with Schoonover Studios, Ltd., Wilmington, DE, 2012)
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrtions and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 276; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.593, p. 316
Curatorial RemarksThe artist shipped this picture to Scribner's on April 16, 1915, and in a letter to Scribner's art editor, he assessed the painting as "strong in color and values and quite closely done....distinctive from all my other work, a picture that should give the plate makers little problem" (NCW to Joseph H. Chapin, April 16, 1915, Archives of Charles Scribner's Sons, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:web catalogue, image from artwork; hardcover version, image from print source (Brandywine River Museum Library, tear sheet)
Photo Credit:web catalogue, Courtesy of Skinner, Inc.; hardcover version, Rick Echelmeyer, 5/2005