Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Raft of Odysseus
Alternate Title(s):Neptune Battles with Odysseus
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1929
Dimensions:
48 × 38 in. (121.9 × 96.5 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1778
Research Number: NCW: 1778
ProvenanceThe artist to late 1930; Mrs. T. Whitney Blake, Katonah, NY, 1930-?; Reuben Gordon; Samuel Saber, 1970-circa 1990; descended in family; (Christie's, New York, New York, Nov. 19, 2014, lot no. 48, did not sell); (Christie's, New York, New York, May 19, 2016, lot no. );
Exhibition HistoryBoston, MA, 1930, no. 9; Wilmington, DE, 1930(1), no. 24, as "Neptune Battles with Odysseus"
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 213; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1097, p. 513
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph of the canvas showing the design in charcoal prior to the application of color and annotated in the artist's hand: Composition Drawing / for Homer's Odyssey / Houghton Mifflin. The Wyeth Family Archives includes the copy of the book that N. C. Wyeth read and annotated in preparation for the commission, The Odyssey of Homer, translated by George Herbert Palmer, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1891. The book was found with notes about the commission in NCW's hand, a copy of a letter to Lovell Thompson of Houghton Mifflin dated August 3, 1929, Thompson's reply, dated August 7, 1929, and notes made by NCW for the Illustrator's preface.
In Dec. 1930, Wyeth wrote to Roger L. Scaife that he had sold the entire set of Odyssey paintings to "a Mrs. Blake of New York" who would keep them all together (NCW to RLS, Dec. 22, 1930, Houghton Library, Harvard University). Mrs. T. Whitney Blake's name occurs twice in the artist's address book (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1174).
In Dec. 1930, Wyeth wrote to Roger L. Scaife that he had sold the entire set of Odyssey paintings to "a Mrs. Blake of New York" who would keep them all together (NCW to RLS, Dec. 22, 1930, Houghton Library, Harvard University). Mrs. T. Whitney Blake's name occurs twice in the artist's address book (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1174).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:digital photography from printed source (Brandywine River Museum library, tear sheet)
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 9/20/2006