Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The death of Finnward Keelfarer. This was the first vengeance of Thorgunna.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1914
Dimensions:
44 1/4 × 32 1/4 in. (112.4 × 81.9 cm)
Private collection, Big Spring, TX
Accession number: SUPP2000.288
Research Number: NCW: 288
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceMrs. N. C. Wyeth; Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Levine; Private collection, Greenwich, CT; (Hammer Galleries, New York, NY, 1995 - 2000); (Wyeth Hurd Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 2000)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1968, no. 4; New York, NY, 1995, exhibition brochure illustration in color, no numbers; Greenville, DE, 1995, exhibition brochure illustration in color, no numbers; Rockland, ME, 1998, no. 70 p. 165, color illustration p. 70
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 47; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 276, b/w illustration p. 133; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.565, p. 306
Curatorial RemarksScribner's first approached Wyeth with this commission in a letter dated July 27, 1914 (Jospeh H. Chapin to NCW, WFA). At that time it was planned for the December issue, and Wyeth was told the illustrations had to be completed by the middle of September. In mid-September, Wyeth wrote to his mother, "I feel that I have scored a little triumph at Scribner's with the Stevenson pictures. The story was a rush story--that is I was given little time to accomplish the work and thus they planned to reproduce it in black and white....yesterday they received the last two pictures and this morning a rousing letter came stating that they were going to work the engravers nights and reproduce (them) in color....It's undoubtedly the best work I've ever done and I'm glad they are recognizing it" (NCW to HZW, dated in another hand Sept. 18, 1914, Wyeth Family Archives).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting