Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Captain John Paul Jones
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1938
Dimensions:
27 × 25 in. (68.6 × 63.5 cm)
Gift of John Morrell & Company. In the permanent collection,
University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Image © University Museums, Iowa State University, 2006
http://www.museums.iastate.edu
Accession number: SUPP2000.281
Research Number: NCW: 281
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse, Renaissance Panel label, no. 635, dated 3/18/(19)38
ProvenanceJohn Morrell & Company, Ottumwa, IA, to 1940
Exhibition HistoryOttumwa, IA, 1940; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(2); Ames, IA, Brunnier Art Museum, "N. C. Wyeth: America in the Making," Nov. 2, 2010-May 8, 2011;
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income tax notes for 1939 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum library); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown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, 1972), ps. 156, 291; Tom Brokaw, David Michaelis, Lauren Raye Smith, One Nation, Patriots and Pirates Portrayed by N. C. Wyeth and James Wyeth (Boston: Bulfinch Press, Little, Brown and Co., 2000), color illustration, fig. 3 on p. 4; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.122, p. 677
Curatorial RemarksAccording to Wyeth's income tax notes for 1939 (library, Brandywine River Museum), expenses for this painting included a trip to Philadelphia to study ship models, as well as two research trips to the Wilmington Institute Library. The cast of the Houdon bust of Jones that was in the studio must have been acquired prior to this commission. The Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.157) of the composition drawing for this painting. The painting is dated by direct reference (NCW to CBW, dated by NCW "Thurs. late afternoon" and in another hand June 15, 1938, Wyeth Family Archives); it is one of three panels for the commission completed and sent to Ketterlinus by the end of June, 1938.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Iowa State University Photo Service