Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The King's Henchman
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1927
Dimensions:
41 1/2 × 47 1/2 in. (105.4 × 120.7 cm)
The Kelly Collection of American Illustration
Accession number: SUPP2000.690
Research Number: NCW: 690
InscribedLower right: WYETH
ProvenanceSteinway & Sons, New York, 1927-1985; CBS, New York, NY, through corporate merger, 1985-1997; (Sotheby's, New York, NY, June 6, 1997, lot no. 247)
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, Philadelphia Sketch Club, "Fourth Annual Exhibition of Advertising Art" March, 1928; New York, NY, 1928, illus. in b/w, ps. 23 and 130; Asheville, NC, Walker Arts Center, The Asheville School, "Visions of Romance, Works from the Kelly Collection of American Illustration," April1-30, 2000, no. 36, illus. in color p. 34; Knoxville, TN, Knoxville Museum of Art, "Distant Lands: the Art of the Story / Works from the Kelly Collection of American Illustration, 1894-1938," no. 49, illus. in color p. 47; New York, NY, Dahesh Museum, "Stories to Tell: Masterworks from the Kelly Collection of American Illustration," Feb. 14 - May 21, 2006, no. 89, illus. p. 77; Allentown, PA, Allentown Art Museum, "At the Edge: Art of the Fantastic," June 3 - September 9. 2012, p. 35
References
Music Notes / Book Five (New York: Silver Burdett & Co., 1930), illus. p. 34; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 295; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.63, p. 658
Curatorial RemarksWyeth wrote to his father of this canvas, "It chances to be one of the best illustrative pictures I've done in a long time. A difficult subject yet it came easily" (NCW to Andrew Newell Wyeth, beginning "This will be of necessity a short letter...." and dated in another hand June 17, 1927, Wyeth Family Archives). The painting depicts a scene from the opera "The King's Henchman," which, with music by Deems Taylor and libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay, had its premier in 1927. A 1927 Harper & Brothers edition of "The King's Henchman" by Edna St. Vincent Millay was found in the artist's studio (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.728). An undated clipping from an unidentified Philadelphia newspaper (Brandywine River Museum) notes that the painting won 1st prize in the 4th Annual Exhibition of Advertising Art, sponsored by the Philadelphia chapter of the Art Directors Club.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Greg Staley