Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
William Penn, Man of Vision · Courage · Action, presentation painting
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1932
Dimensions:
50 × 36 in. (127 × 91.4 cm)
The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company
Accession number: SUPP2000.822
Research Number: NCW: 822
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, "Making a Mural: N. C. Wyeth's Work for Penn Mutual," May 30- September 7, 1998
References
"Famous Artist Lays Aside His Brushes to Chat with Interviewer in His Studio, " (West Chester, PA, Daily Local News, Nov. 11, 1932, ps. 1 and 10; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.47, p. 621
Curatorial RemarksThis painting was seen on an easel in Wyeth's studio by an interviewer from the West Chester Daily Local News who visited shortly before Nov. 11, 1932. To transfer the design from the smaller canvas to the larger, the artist used string to divide the smaller canvas into four sections; a commercial photographer in Wilmington made lantern slides of each section, which the artist then projected on to the larger canvas. A separate lantern slide was made from the figure of Penn (all five slides, Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1825.5-9). A charcoal sketch is known only through an additional lantern slide (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1825.4).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:digital photography directly from art work
Photo Credit:Kerper Studio, Inc., Wyndmoor, PA