Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
At the same moment the door behind Radcliffe crashed open and a dozen men crowded in, rifles in hand.
Alternate Title(s):A Dozen Men Crowded In; The Invaders; Raiders
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1912
Dimensions:
47 × 37 7/8 in. (119.4 × 96.2 cm)
Private collection, PA
Accession number: SUPP2000.23
Research Number: NCW: 23
InscribedUpper left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); lower right: To My Friend / BERT GUEST / N.C.W. 1924; on reverse of canvas, three charcoal drawings of parts of ships
ProvenanceThe artist; Herbert W. Guest, Sr., 1924 and descended in family
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1912(1), no. 23, as "The Invaders"; Haverhill, MA, 1913; Wilmington, DE, 1913, no. 12; Chadds Ford, PA, 1971, no. 68, as "A Dozen Men Crowded In"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 120 as "A Dozen Men Crowded In"; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, "N. C. Wyeth and The Philadelphia Sketch Club," March 20 - May 23, 2010; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, "Romance in Conflict, N. C. Wyeth's Civil War Paintings," Jan. 22-March 20, 2011;
References
"Sketch Club's Show / Landscapes and Illustrations by N. C. Wythe (sic) on View," (Philadelphia, PA) Sunday Record, Nov. 3, 1912 (AAA roll P55, frame 786); "Private View of the Fine Arts Exhibition," (Wilmington, DE) Morning News, Nov. 4, 1913, p. 5; "Wyeth Paintings Shown in Philadelphia," (Wilmington, DE) Morning News, Nov. 20, 1912, p. 8, as "The Invaders"; "Wilmington Fine Arts Exhibition," International Studio, vol. LI, no. 203 (Nov., 1913), illus. b/w, p. CLXI, as "The Invaders"; Joseph F. Dinneen, "Wyeth, Noted Illustrator, Back in Needham Home," Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, March 25, 1923, illus. p. 13, as "Raiders"; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 258; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.428, p. 256
Curatorial RemarksMost of the pictures for this commission were probably complete by May 11, 1912, when Wyeth wrote to his mother (WFA) that he had just shipped off the products of "10 days hard labor...pictures of war, of soldiers and guns, and men with hard strife-worn faces!"
During the Wilmington, DE, 1913 exhibition, this painting was for sale for $150.00, and won the prize for best illustration. Wyeth wrote to his brother Stimson that of his three paintings exhibited, the jury had bestowed the prize money on "the indifferent one" (NCW to Stimson Wyeth, Nov. 5, 1913, Wyeth Family Archives). The judges for the prize were Christian Brinton, who at that time lived in New York, Joseph H. Chapin, art editor for Scribner's Magazine, and John E. Parker, art editor for Ladies' Home Journal. (Wilmington Morning News, Nov. 4, 1913, p. 5). Herbert W. Guest, to whom the artist gave the painting, was a Chadds Ford area antiques dealer.
During the Wilmington, DE, 1913 exhibition, this painting was for sale for $150.00, and won the prize for best illustration. Wyeth wrote to his brother Stimson that of his three paintings exhibited, the jury had bestowed the prize money on "the indifferent one" (NCW to Stimson Wyeth, Nov. 5, 1913, Wyeth Family Archives). The judges for the prize were Christian Brinton, who at that time lived in New York, Joseph H. Chapin, art editor for Scribner's Magazine, and John E. Parker, art editor for Ladies' Home Journal. (Wilmington Morning News, Nov. 4, 1913, p. 5). Herbert W. Guest, to whom the artist gave the painting, was a Chadds Ford area antiques dealer.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Herb Crossan, 4/2001