Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"Go, Dutton, and that right speedily," he added. "Follow that lad"
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
39 1/2 × 31 1/2 in. (100.3 × 80 cm)
Private collection. ME
Accession number: SUPP2000.268
Research Number: NCW: 268
InscribedUpper left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); lower left: © C.S.S.
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, 1916 - 1927, # B11340; Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Andrew, Methuen, MA; Marion Andrew Taggart; (Vose Gallery, Boston, MA, 1985)
Exhibition HistoryPittsburgh, PA, 1919; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(1); Chadds Ford, PA, 1985
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.618, p. 327; Joe Lawlor, "The Mystery of the Stolen Wyeths," Portland Press Herald, July 15, 2015, p. 4;
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition of The Black Arrow which the artist read to prepare for this commission, with notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (NCWS.95.163).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Peter Ralston, www.pralston.com