Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The chief raised his musket and fired
Alternate Title(s):Assassination of Fletcher Christian
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1940
Dimensions:
26 3/4 × 18 1/2 in. (67.9 × 47 cm)
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Fowler
Accession number: SUPP2000.544
Research Number: NCW: 544
InscribedUpper left: N C WYETH (underlined); written on reverse of panel: #4 / THE ASSASINATION(sic) OF FLETCHER CHRISTIAN / P.190-P.I / #2132; adhered to reverse of panel, Renaissance Panel label, no. 888, dated 3/26/40; on piece of masking tape adhered to reverse: Wildenstein / 2132
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth to at least 1950; (Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY); Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Spina, 1967 to 1990; (American Illustrators Gallery, New York, NY, at least Dec. 1990 - Aug. 1993); (Phillips, New York, NY, June 16, 1998, lot no. 92); Collection of Barbara and Edward Aster, OR; (Sotheby's, New York, NY, May 27, 1999, lot no. 172); MBNA America, Wilmington, DE, 1999; Andrew and Betsy Wyeth, Chadds Ford, PA, 2001; Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Fowler, Lookout Mountain, TN, 2002-2016; New York, NY, Sotheby's, Nov. 2016, lot no. )
Exhibition HistoryTokyo, Odakyu Museum; Fukushima, Fukushima Prefectrual Museum of Art; Osaka Daimaru Museum, Umeda-Osaka, Japan, American Illustrators Gallery (organizer), "The Great American Illustrators," 1993, no. 25 p. 126, illustration in color p. 42; Eugene, OR, University of Oregon, "N. C. Wyeth, The Art of Illustration," Jan.28 - Feb. 27, 1999, Paintings and Drawings checklist no. 4, brochure cover illustration in color
References
N. C. Wyeth, "Income Tax Notes for 1940," (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum library); Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 55; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown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.1301, 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 of the composition drawing for this painting (NCWS.95.1825.117).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Sotheby's, 4/1999