Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Thoreau Fishing
Alternate Title(s):Thoreau Fishing at Walden Pond
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1936
Dimensions:
38 1/2 × 33 in. (97.8 × 83.8 cm)
Private collection, CO
Accession number: SUPP2000.1337
Research Number: NCW: 1337
InscribedScratched into ground at lower left: N. C. WYETH; painted on reverse of panel in NCW's hand: NOTICE (lined above and below); DO NOT (underlined), UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, / REMOVE THIS PANEL FROM ITS FRAME / APPLY NO VASELINE, VARNISH, OR ANY / OTHER MATERIALS WHATSOEVER / TO THIS PAINTING / N. C. WYETH / PAINTED IN OIL ON GESSO GROUND -- PRESSED WOOD PANEL / N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist through at least Oct. 1939; Frederick Wardenberg, and descended in family
Exhibition HistoryUtica, NY, 1938, as "Thoreau Fishing at Walden Pond"; Concord, MA, Concord Museum, N. C. Wyeth's Men of Concord, April 15 - September 18, 2016, ps.36, 37;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 220; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1208, p. 549
Curatorial RemarksThe reverse of the panel is painted the rust red color characteristic of a Renaissance Panel, and the position of the label (which has been painted over or removed) is marked with glue edges. According to the family, the first owner of the painting was a friend of N. C. Wyeth and student of F. E. Schoonover.
A pencil composition drawing for this image is extant (NCW 2112). The Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.125) of the drawing used in the transfer of the image from paper to panel and an archival photograph inscribed on the reverse in the artist's hand: Thoreau Fishing / by N. C. Wyeth / copyright by the Houghton Mifflin Co.
A pencil composition drawing for this image is extant (NCW 2112). The Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.125) of the drawing used in the transfer of the image from paper to panel and an archival photograph inscribed on the reverse in the artist's hand: Thoreau Fishing / by N. C. Wyeth / copyright by the Houghton Mifflin Co.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. digital photography directly from art work; 2. reverse of panel, with inscription by N. C. Wyeth
Photo Credit:both 1. and 2., courtesy of the owner