Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
He was a fine boy-an imaginative boy, with great dreams in his head.
Alternate Title(s):Boy Reading to his Mother
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm)
Needham Public Schools, Needham, MA
Accession number: SUPP2000.1039
Research Number: NCW: 1039
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / To MARY E. GLANCY MAY. 18. '23
ProvenanceThe artist; Mary E. Glancy, 1923
Exhibition HistoryNeedham, MA, 1967, no. 8; Needham, MA, 1968, no. 4, as "Boy Reading to his Mother"; Needham, MA, 1982, no numbers
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 277; Alexander Nemerov, "The Boy in the Bed: The Scene of Reading in N. C. Wyeth's Wreck of the "Covenant,"" The Art Bulletin, vol. LXXXVIII, no. 1 (March 2006), ps. 11-12, 18; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.654, p. 342
Curatorial RemarksMary E. Glancy (d. 1931) was the artist's grammar school teacher in Needham, MA. The book at the top of the stack on the floor is recognizably Wyeth's edition of Treasure Island.
The Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph showing this canvas on an easel in Wyeth's studio, with the design drawn in but before the addition of color.
The Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph showing this canvas on an easel in Wyeth's studio, with the design drawn in but before the addition of color.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting. 2. Archival photograph showing easel with design drawn on canvas before addition of color
Photo Credit:1. Greg Heins, Boston; 2. Brandywine River Museum library