Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Black Arrow, title page illustration
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
40 1/8 × 32 1/4 in. (101.9 × 81.9 cm)
Collection of Ronald R. Randall
Accession number: SUPP2000.264
Research Number: NCW: 264
InscribedLower left: © C.S.S.
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, 1916 to ca. 1935; Mr. and Mrs. David A. Randall; Ronald R. Randall, to 1979; Robert and Carole Findlay, 1979-1990
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, 1976(1);
References
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.605, p. 320, 321
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition of The Black Arrow which the artist read to prepare for this commission, with notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (NCWS.95.163). Wyeth left the two banners blank for the typeset title, author, and illustrator's name.
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Ronald R. Randall