Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Captain Nemo
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1918
Dimensions:
40 3/16 × 30 1/8 in. (102.1 × 76.5 cm)
The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1791
Research Number: NCW: 1791
InscribedLower right: WYETH (underlined); Lower left: c (encircled) C. S. S.; on reverse of canvas: copyright by Charles Scribners Sons; Scribner's label adhered to canvas and now encapsulated and attached to backing board: THIS COPYRIGHTED etc.; label adhered to canvas and now encapsulated and attached to backing board: BALTIMORE / MUSEUM of ART / 101 W. Monument St. / BALTIMORE, MD / (in ink) 27.26.5
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY (and "Loaned to the Artist Sept. 6/21", per Scribner's card # B14192); purchased by Walter K. Queen, Needham, MA, in 1935; Juanita Queen (his daughter), Old Greenwich, CT; (Sotheby's, New York, NY, Sept. 14, 1995, lot no. 243); Collection of Robert and Carolyn Wohlsen, 1995-1997
Exhibition HistoryBrooklyn, NY, 1920, no. 23; Philadelphia, PA, 1921; Philadelphia, PA, 1924; Philadelphia, PA, 1925; Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Museum of Art, possibly "Selection of original work by Contemporary American Illustrators," Nov. 3-28, 1927; Chicago, IL, 1997, no. 17; Rockland, ME, 1998, no. 73 p. 165, color illustration p. 73; Paris, Mona Bismarck Foundation, "The Wyeths, Trois generations d'artistes americains," Nov. 10, 2011- Feb. 12, 2012, illus. in color, p. 79; Yonkers, NY, Hudson River Museum, "Strut, The Peacock and Beauty in Art," Oct. 11, 2014--Jan. 18, 2015, p. 74, cat. no. 38 on p. 151; 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. 152
References
Untitled and unattributed review of Philadelphia, PA, 1924, Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 20, 1924; Richard Dean, "One Hundred Years of Jules Verne," The Mentor, vol. 16, no. 5 (June 1928), illus. p. 19; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 222, illus. b/w p. 92; Joyce Hill Stoner, A Closer Look, Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth (Wilmington, DE: Delaware Art Musuem, 1998), ps. 12 and 16; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.724, p. 372, 373; Diego Cordoba, "N. C. Wyeth," in Illustrators Magazine (London: The Book Place), Autumn 2018, issue 23, illus. p. 11
Curatorial RemarksAlthough Jules Verne did describe the appearance of Captain Nemo ("a magnificent head, the forehead high, the glance commanding, beard white, hair abundant and falling over the shoulders," p. 453), the only textual basis for the background is the statement that Captain Nemo surrounded himself with masterpieces from all cultures and periods. Nemo reveals himself to have been an Indian prince, and the peacock may have been a reference to his Indian background (see Hudson River exh. cat. ref. above).
Walter K. Queen, the first purchaser of the painting and resident of Needham, was the type of person in whom NCW would have had a great interest--a marine engineer aboard a cargo ship during WWI, and founder of the QP Company, a manufacturer which produced electronic signaling devices and steam pipe expansion joints for steamships. He also served on Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s Second Antarctic Expedition as chief engineer aboard Byrd’s supply ship the Jacob Rupert. Apparently Queen had made an initial offer to buy the canvas which was put off by Wyeth. In a letter to Queen dated July 15, 1935, Wyeth advises him that he's finally convinced family members to part with it, for the price of $350.00.
Walter K. Queen, the first purchaser of the painting and resident of Needham, was the type of person in whom NCW would have had a great interest--a marine engineer aboard a cargo ship during WWI, and founder of the QP Company, a manufacturer which produced electronic signaling devices and steam pipe expansion joints for steamships. He also served on Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s Second Antarctic Expedition as chief engineer aboard Byrd’s supply ship the Jacob Rupert. Apparently Queen had made an initial offer to buy the canvas which was put off by Wyeth. In a letter to Queen dated July 15, 1935, Wyeth advises him that he's finally convinced family members to part with it, for the price of $350.00.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Photography directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of the Delaware Art Museum, 8/2001
On view