Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Battle
Alternate Title(s):Bugle Call from The Long Roll; The Captured Breast Work
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1910
Dimensions:
47 1/8 × 38 1/4 in. (119.7 × 97.2 cm)
Private collection, Chadds Ford, PA
Accession number: SUPP2000.147
Research Number: NCW: 147
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 10
Provenance(West Chester, PA, American Legion Post no. 134, auction, Feb. 25, 1964, as "Bugle Call from The Long Roll")
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1912(3), no. 100 as "The Captured Breast Work"; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 34; Rockland, ME, 1966, no. 14; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 117; Brookings, SD, 1973, no. 9; Greenville, SC, 1974, no. 39; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(2); Princeton, NJ, 1977, no. 16; Rockland, ME, 2000, illus. in color, fig. 12; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, "Romance in Conflict, N. C. Wyeth's Civil War Paintings," Jan. 22-March 20, 2011
References
(Philadelphia, PA) Record, Dec. 1, 1912 (clipping reproduced on AAA film, roll P55, frame 742); Walt Reed, The Illustrator in America / 1900-1960's (New York: Reinhold Publishing Corp, 1966), illus. in color p. 72; Civil War Times Illustrated, vol. 4, no. 10 (Feb. 1966), cover illustration; Frederic Ray, O! Say Can You See (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1970), illus. p. 109; Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 354, 358, 360, 362-363, 381-382; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 208, illus. in color p. 128; Janice Roosevelt Clark, "Crossing the Line, Three Prominent Collectors Discuss Their Passion," County Lines, March, 2002, p. 53; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.298, p. 208
Curatorial RemarksThe Wyeth Family Archives includes photographs of the countryside around Warm Springs, Virginia, which Mary Johnston sent to the artist. Wyeth was intensely disappointed in the quality of the reproductions for The Long Roll, calling them "miserable smudges" and asserting that by publishing them Houghton Mifflin had done him "considerable damage."
The Battle was treated by conservator Joyce Hill Stoner in February 2011. At that time, the painting had not been lined and was still on its original stretcher.
The Battle was treated by conservator Joyce Hill Stoner in February 2011. At that time, the painting had not been lined and was still on its original stretcher.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 7/2000