Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Johnny and his Woodchuck-Skin Cap
Alternate Title(s):Thoreau and the Irish Boy
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1936
Dimensions:
37 3/4 × 28 3/4 in. (95.9 × 73 cm)
Purchased by the Concord Free Public Library from the Samuel Hoar Fund, 1947
Accession number: SUPP2000.1343
Research Number: NCW: 1343
InscribedLower left, scratched into ground: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse of panel, Renaissance Panel label, no. 442, dated 5/18/36; written upside down on panel label: HENRY THOREAU
ProvenanceMrs. N. C. Wyeth; purchased by the Library Corporation, 1947 (Legacy of Samuel Hoar)
Exhibition HistoryUtica, NY, 1938, as "Thoreau and the Irish Boy"; Wilmington, DE, 1946, no. 32; Washington, DC, 1946, no. 21; Cedar Rapids, IA, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, "Down Under & Over Here, Children's Book Illustration from Australia and America," March 28 - May 31, 1998; Concord, MA, Concord Museum, N. C. Wyeth's Men of Concord, April 15 - September 18, 2016, ps. 52, 53;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 220; Allen French, T. M. Longstreth and David B. Little, A History of the Concord Free Public Library (Concord, MA: The Library Corporation, 1973), p. 20; Leslie Perrin Wilson, "N. C. Wyeth, Thoreau and Men of Concord," The Concord Saunterer, New Series vol. 8 (2000), illustration in b/w p. 85; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1216, p. 552
Curatorial RemarksOriginally the painting was slightly larger, with a white border of approximately 1 5/8 inches around the image; the border has been cut away.
The Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph of the painting; a lantern slide of the composition drawing (NCWS.95.1825.109) used in the transfer of the design from paper to panel; and a mounted proof that came from the N. C. Wyeth studio (NCWS.95.6595).
The Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph of the painting; a lantern slide of the composition drawing (NCWS.95.1825.109) used in the transfer of the design from paper to panel; and a mounted proof that came from the N. C. Wyeth studio (NCWS.95.6595).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:digital photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Anderson Photo, Concord, MA