Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"A man of a certain probity and worth, immortal and natural"
Alternate Title(s):New England; The Wood Sled
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1936
Dimensions:
36 × 32 in. (91.4 × 81.3 cm)
Destroyed by fire, 27 Sept. 2023
Accession number: SUPP2000.1338
Research Number: NCW: 1338
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse, Weber Renaissance Panel label, numbered 458, dated 6/30/36; written along bottom of label, possibly in the artist's hand: NEW ENGLAND (underlined) / # 458 (illegible)
ProvenanceThe artist, to at least Oct. 1939; [?]; Private collection, Wilmington, DE; Private collection, CT; Private collection, Beverly Farms, MA; [ NY, NY, Bonhams, "American Art," 25 May 2023, lot no. 49]; N. C. Wyeth Research Foundation and Reading Libraries, Inc.
Exhibition HistoryUtica, NY, 1938, as "The Wood Sled"; New York, NY, 1939, not listed in catalogue but shown hanging at exhibition in Art Digest photo of Dec. 15, 1939; Concord, MA, Concord Museum, N. C. Wyeth's Men of Concord, April 15 - September 18, 2016, ps.34, 35;
References
"The Clan Wyeth Presents Its Famed Patriarch," Art Digest, vol. XIV, no. 6 (Dec. 15, 1939), p. 8, for photograph of painting hanging at Macbeth Gallery exhibition; N. C. Wyeth, Income Tax Notes for 1939 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum Library); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 220; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1207, p. 548-549
Curatorial RemarksThe artist's income tax notes for 1939 (Brandywine River Museum library) contain reference to this painting as "Oxteam in Snow," and suggest that the painting hung at the Macbeth Gallery exhibition of Dec. 1939, despite the fact that it was not listed in the catalogue. A photograph of the family, grouped in front of the painting hanging on the gallery wall, verifies its inclusion (reproduced in Art Digest, Dec. 15, 1939, p. 8).
In the same income tax note, the artist also clearly annotated the title "painted in 1934" and it is possible that this is the second of two almost identical paintings. Houghton Mifflin apparently approached the artist in January 1934 with the possibility of illustrating "Men of Concord." (see NCW to Ira Rich Kent of Houghton Mifflin Company, Jan. 6, 1935, Houghton Library, Harvard University, which references a Jan. 15, 1934 letter, no longer extant). Wyeth may have painted the first picture as a response to these early overtures. Two years later, with the commission definitely headed to press, Wyeth may have transferred the design onto a Renaissance Panel. The Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide of an outline drawing of the composition that would have aided him in the transfer. (Brandywine River Museum library, NCWS.95.1825.110). The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection includes a detailed composition drawing for this image (NCW 2193) and two studies for the oxen (NCW 2246.256 and NCW 2246.257).
In the same income tax note, the artist also clearly annotated the title "painted in 1934" and it is possible that this is the second of two almost identical paintings. Houghton Mifflin apparently approached the artist in January 1934 with the possibility of illustrating "Men of Concord." (see NCW to Ira Rich Kent of Houghton Mifflin Company, Jan. 6, 1935, Houghton Library, Harvard University, which references a Jan. 15, 1934 letter, no longer extant). Wyeth may have painted the first picture as a response to these early overtures. Two years later, with the commission definitely headed to press, Wyeth may have transferred the design onto a Renaissance Panel. The Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide of an outline drawing of the composition that would have aided him in the transfer. (Brandywine River Museum library, NCWS.95.1825.110). The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection includes a detailed composition drawing for this image (NCW 2193) and two studies for the oxen (NCW 2246.256 and NCW 2246.257).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:J. R. Dykes, Photographer, 7/2004