Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
He advanced resolutely toward the carpenter
Alternate Title(s):Bligh Fights Purcell; Men Against the Sea
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1940
Dimensions:
30 × 20 1/2 in. (76.2 × 52.1 cm)
Collection of the Farnsworth Art Museum
Gift of Mrs. Sherwood Cook, Mrs. Dudley Rockwell, and Mrs. Andrew Wyeth, 1965
Accession number: SUPP2000.453
Research Number: NCW: 453
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); lower right: To JIM and ELIZABETH / from CONVERS - 1941; directly on reverse of panel: BLIGH FIGHTS PURCELL / P. 170 - MEN AGAINST THE SEA; adhered to reverse, Renaissance Panel label, no. 891, dated 3/26/(19)40; label adhered to panel: B88018f / N C Wyeth / BLIGH FIGHTS PURCELL
ProvenanceThe artist to 1941; Merle and Elizabeth James; descended in family
Exhibition HistoryNorthfield, MA, Mount Hermon School, "Wyeth Exhibit," May 8-23, 1965, no. 3 as "Men Against the Sea"; Rockland, ME, 1965, no. 68, as "Bligh Fights Purcell"; Boston, MA, Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Co., "Forty Years of the Farnsworth: A Retrospective," March 16 - June 15, 1988
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income Tax Notes for 1940 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum library); William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, Report of the Director, 1965, ps. 14-16, b/w illustration p. 15; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 213; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1299, p. 585
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the copy of Pitcairn's Island (NCWS.95.604) that Wyeth read in preparation for the commission, which includes a typed copy of his initial illustrative program for the Bounty trilogy; and a lantern slide made from the composition drawing for this image (NCWS.95.1825.318). The lower left quarter of the composition drawing was found inserted into Wyeth's copy of "Pitcairn's Island" (NCWS.95.604).
Wyeth gave the painting to Merle and Elizabeth James, the parents of Betsy James Wyeth.
Wyeth gave the painting to Merle and Elizabeth James, the parents of Betsy James Wyeth.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:digital image directly from painting