Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Betsy Ross Making the Flag
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: ca. 1942
Dimensions:
28 × 25 1/2 in. (71.1 × 64.8 cm)
Courtesy U. S. Naval Academy Museum
Accession number: SUPP2000.550
Research Number: NCW: 550
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse of panel, Renaissance Panel label, no. 1127, dated 8.17.42; written on panel label: # 2 / Betsy Ross / making the flag; written on panel: # 5 (crossed out) / # 2; written on panel in white chalk in upper left: 2 (circled)
ProvenanceJohn Morrell & Company,Ottumwa, IA, to 1944; gift to the U. S. Naval Academy
References
Catalogue of Paintings (Annapolis, MD: U. S. Naval Academy Museum, 1961), no. 214, p. 13; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 291; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.161, p. 691
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide that was used in the transfer of the image from composition drawing to panel (NCWS.95.1825.138); and an archival photograph annotated on the reverse in the artist's hand: VI Betsy Ross.
Since the late 19th century, the building believed to be the house in which Ross sewed the first flag of the United States has been open to the public and widely celebrated. While income tax notes with expenses listed against the price of the paintings in this final Morrell calendar series no longer exists, it seems certain that Wyeth would have traveled to Philadelphia to inspect the interior of the house. The actual fireplace with its surround of blue and white tiles seems quite similar to the fireplace Wyeth depicted.
Since the late 19th century, the building believed to be the house in which Ross sewed the first flag of the United States has been open to the public and widely celebrated. While income tax notes with expenses listed against the price of the paintings in this final Morrell calendar series no longer exists, it seems certain that Wyeth would have traveled to Philadelphia to inspect the interior of the house. The actual fireplace with its surround of blue and white tiles seems quite similar to the fireplace Wyeth depicted.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Greg Staley, 1/2006