Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Country Gentleman, cover illustration
Alternate Title(s):Tapping Sugar Maples; Harvesting Maple Sap
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1926
Dimensions:
32 1/8 × 30 in. (81.6 × 76.2 cm)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1283
Research Number: NCW: 1283
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); label adhered to stretcher: Doll & Richards / No. C54176
ProvenanceMr. and Mrs. N. C. Wyeth to Myron Files, Jr., as a wedding present, 1941 (Myron Files Sr. married CBW's sister Esther; appears in an undated Vose Gallery record, #25064, owned by "MJF, Jr.," appraised by Vose Gallery in 1977); (sold by nephew's children at Blackwood March Antiques auction, March 27, 1984, Essex, MA); [?]; (Christie's, New York, NY, lot no. 112, Nov. 29, 2000); MBNA America, Wilmington, DE, 2000 - 2005;
Exhibition HistoryPortland, OR, Portland Museum of Art, "The Wyeths: Three Generations, Works form the Bank of America Collection," Oct. 7, 2017-Jan. 28, 2018;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 257; "Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture," Christie's, New York, NY, lot no. 112, Nov. 29, 2000, illustration in color, p. 197; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1038, p. 492
Curatorial RemarksArtist files at the Brandywine River Museum document a similar painting by the artist Leal Mack (1892-1962), who was N. C. Wyeth's student from fall 1915 to mid May 1916. Mack also illustrated for the same magazines Wyeth did, and it is likely that Mack's image was also a cover illustration. It is not clear which work was done first.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Photography directly from painting; 2. Photo showing "Sap Thief" by Leal Mack
Photo Credit:1. Courtesy of Christie's, 8/2000; 2. Brandywine River Museum, Leal Mack artist file