Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The gibbet
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1924
Dimensions:
34 × 25 in. (86.4 × 63.5 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1212
Research Number: NCW: 1212
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth; (Frank E. Fowler, Lookout Mountain, TN); (Atlanta, GA, American Illustrators Gallery, 1979); Private collection, VA; (Philadelphia, PA, Samuel T. Freeman & Co., Dec. 5, 2010, lot no. 100; did not sell); (Philadelphia, PA, Freeman's, June 19, 2011, sale no. 1403, lot no. 81); Private Collection
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1946, no. 34
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 19; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.969, p. 467; Robert Louis Stevenson, David Balfour, Memoirs of His Adventures at Home and Abroad, edited by Barry Menikoff, San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Press, 2016, plate no. 1;
Curatorial RemarksThe artist's library includes Scribner's 1905 unillustrated edition of the story (NCWS.95.203) which Wyeth read and marked in preparation for the commission.
Artist David Wiesner recalled seeing this painting (or a reproduction of it) in a 1981 episode of the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" (season 3, episode 19, at 16:15 mark, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWKaOjBKWAI&index=15&list=PLJG_wxFKKDYu4ifquvmtfUrnHGneIMPda). The "painting" appeared to be in the collection of Lillian Carlson, who announced she was in favor of capital punishment.
Artist David Wiesner recalled seeing this painting (or a reproduction of it) in a 1981 episode of the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" (season 3, episode 19, at 16:15 mark, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWKaOjBKWAI&index=15&list=PLJG_wxFKKDYu4ifquvmtfUrnHGneIMPda). The "painting" appeared to be in the collection of Lillian Carlson, who announced she was in favor of capital punishment.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Frank E. Fowler