Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Worm Fence
Alternate Title(s):Cart Track at Rocky Hill
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1911
Dimensions:
25 1/2 × 30 in. (64.8 × 76.2 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1517
Research Number: NCW: 1517
Inscribedlower right (not in the artist's hand): N C WYETH (underlined); on reverse, written on side stretcher: 59 / 59 (circled) / illegible number
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth to 19?; Private collection; (Bonhams & Butterfields, New York, NY, May 26, 2010, lot no. 106, as "Cart Track at Rocky Hill"); ? ; [New York, NY, Doyle, Nov. 5, 2013, lot no. 206, as "Worm Fence (Cart Track at Rocky Hill"]; [with Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE, by April 2014]
Curatorial RemarksThe painting depicts the view from the cart track leading up Rocky Hill, looking toward Chadds Ford and the Brandywine valley. Wyeth purchased this property in March, 1911. Photographs taken by him (Wyeth Family Archives; one reproduced in Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945, Boston: Gambit, 1971, p. 372) show the worm fences that were on the property. The painting must have been done sometime in the early spring, before construction on the house began in May.
The title can be traced back to the early 1970s and was recorded by Carolyn Wyeth on an index card, part of an inventory she did of paintings in her father's studio. The "59" on the reverse of the stretcher refers to number 59 in the inventory, entered as : "Worm Fence / size 25 x 30 / oil" (Carolyn Wyeth inventory, N. C. Wyeth archives, Brandywine River Museum library). While there is no authority that suggests that the artist himself titled the painting, the title is typical (vague and image-based) of those given to similar impressionist views he exhibited at the Philadelphia Sketch Club in November, 1912.
It would seem that Wyeth did not generally sign his impressionist landscapes from this period. Many were signed by the artist's daughter Carolyn or his son Andrew when they were sold after the artist's death (see C. B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, 2008, p. 840).
The title can be traced back to the early 1970s and was recorded by Carolyn Wyeth on an index card, part of an inventory she did of paintings in her father's studio. The "59" on the reverse of the stretcher refers to number 59 in the inventory, entered as : "Worm Fence / size 25 x 30 / oil" (Carolyn Wyeth inventory, N. C. Wyeth archives, Brandywine River Museum library). While there is no authority that suggests that the artist himself titled the painting, the title is typical (vague and image-based) of those given to similar impressionist views he exhibited at the Philadelphia Sketch Club in November, 1912.
It would seem that Wyeth did not generally sign his impressionist landscapes from this period. Many were signed by the artist's daughter Carolyn or his son Andrew when they were sold after the artist's death (see C. B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, 2008, p. 840).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Bonhams & Butterfields