Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"They fought with him on foot more than three hours, both before him and behind him"
Alternate Title(s):The Fight Near the Blasted Tree
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1917
Dimensions:
40 1/8 × 31 7/8 in. (101.9 × 81 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.434
Research Number: NCW: 434
InscribedLower right: N C WYETH (underlined); lower left: © C. S. S.; written on reverse of canvas: (first line obscurred by stretcher cross member)**/410 SHIPLEY ST WILMINGTON DEL / DEALER IN / PICTURES, PICTURE FRAMES / AND ARTIST MATERIALS; and below: COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S + SON
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, 1917; acquired by a Scribner's editor and descended in family
Exhibition HistoryBrooklyn, NY, 1920, no. 12 as "The Fight Near the Blasted Tree"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1985; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(2), no. 34, illus. in color p. 31; Chadds Ford, PA, 1997, no numbers.; New Britain, CT, New Britain Museum of American Art, "Double Lives: American Painters as Illustrators, 1850-1950," Dec. 12, 2008 - Feb. 22, 2009 (also Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, Sept. 6 - Nov. 23, 2008); Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, "Enchanted Castles and Noble Knights," Nov. 28, 2014-Jan. 4, 2015; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, June 22-Sept. 15, 2019 (and Portland, ME, Portland Museum of Art, Oct. 4, 2019-Jan. 12, 2020, and Cincinnati, OH, Taft Museum, Feb. 8-May 3, 2020), "N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives," illus. p. 151
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 209; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 243, illus. in color after p. 244; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.668, p. 348-349
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the copy of the Boy's King Arthur that Wyeth read in preparation for this commission (NCWS.95.171, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908, with Illustrations by Alfred Kappes) and marked with notes as he selected the incidents to picture. The museum collection also includes a pre-publication proof with pencilled annotions regarding alterations to be made to the plate.
A conervator's report indicates that missing line on label (**) reads: Harry Yerger.
A conervator's report indicates that missing line on label (**) reads: Harry Yerger.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Brandywine River Museum photography files