Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
There were seven or eight assailants, and but one to keep head against them
Alternate Title(s):Crookback Fights Eight Assailants; Fight at the Cross
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
40 1/4 × 32 1/4 in. (102.2 × 81.9 cm)
Diamond M Fine Art Collection, Museum of Texas Tech University
Accession number: SUPP2000.230
Research Number: NCW: 230
InscribedLower left: N C WYETH / ©C.S.S.
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, 1916-1975; [Frank E. Fowler]; Collection of S. Hallock du Pont, Jr., 1975- ca. 1984; Diamond M Foundation, TX, to 1993
Exhibition HistoryBrooklyn, NY, 1920, no. 20, as "Crookback Fights Eight Assailants"; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 84, as "Fight at the Cross"; Rockland, ME, 1966, no. 37, as "Fight at the Cross", illus. b/w (unpaginated); Lubbock, TX, 1999
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.617, p. 327
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).
"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 painting
Photo Credit:Texas Tech University Museum