Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"One swing 'f his battle-axe chops off the lock, 'n' there's a dragon black as ink wi' one eye."
Alternate Title(s):The Black Dragon
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1914
Dimensions:
40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm)
Needham Free Public Library, Needham, Massachusetts
Accession number: SUPP2000.1038
Research Number: NCW: 1038
InscribedLower left: TO DR. + MRS. CHARLES W. PEASE / from CONVERS 1923 / N.C. WYETH (underlined); probably inscribed on the reverse of the canvas: Illustrating a sea fantasy by James B. Connoly(sic) in Scribner's Magazine about 1913. The Rajah--his giant slave--the Black Dragon--Napoleon Bonaparte & Marie Antoinette.
ProvenanceThe artist; gift to Dr. and Mrs. Charles W. Pease, 1923
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1914, no. 1006, illustration in b/w (unnumbered page), as "The Black Dragon"; Brooklyn, NY, 1920, no. 5, as "The Black Dragon - A Sailor's Yarn"; Needham, MA, 1967, no. 6; Needham, MA, 1968, no. 2; Needham, MA, 1982, no numbers;
References
Theodore L. Fitzsimons, "Decorative Pictures at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts," The International Studio, vol. LIV, no. 215 (Jan. 1915), illustration in b/w, p. IXC; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 276, illustration in b/w p. 132; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.560, p. 304, 305
Curatorial RemarksScribner's editor Joseph H. Chapin wrote, "Connolly...was delighted with your illustrations. The three of them are now in our Fifth Avenue window and are attracting a good deal of attention although I have n't had any offers." (JHC to NCW, July 27, 1914, Wyeth Family Archives). In a letter of early August, 1914, Wyeth wrote to his mother, "My pictures in the current Scribner's seem to be winning considerable notice and I must answer further inquiries for prices" (NCW to HZW, dated in another hand Aug 7, 1914, Wyeth Family Archives).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Stephen Morrison, 10/2004