The Torrent in the Valley of Glencoe I had scarce time to measure the distance or to understand the peril before I had followed him, and he had caught and stopped me

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

The Torrent in the Valley of Glencoe
I had scarce time to measure the distance or to understand the peril before I had followed him, and he had caught and stopped me

Medium: Oil on canvas adhered to hardboard
Date: 1913
Dimensions:
39 3/16 × 31 3/4 in. (99.5 × 80.6 cm)
The New York Public Library
Accession number: SUPP2000.168
Research Number: NCW: 168
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); lower left: © CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY, 1913 - 1916
Exhibition HistoryPittsburgh, PA, 1919; Rockland, ME, 1966, no. 33; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 70; Chadds Ford, PA, 1985; New York, NY, 1985, no. 5; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(2), no. 26, illus. in color p. 107; Rockland, ME, 1998, no. 69 p. 165, illus. in color p. 69
References Reader's Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers, illustrated vol. 7, p. 91 (Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, 1968); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 224; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.474, p. 275, 277
Curatorial RemarksNotes and insertions found in Wyeth's copy of "Bonnie Scotland Painted by Sutton Palmer" by A. R. Hope Moncrieff (A. & C. Black, 1912), suggest that the artist used this book (NCWS.95.608) as a visual resource for the Kidnapped paintings.
The artist noted in a letter that he was present when "ten of my originals (were) installed permanently, in the children's reading room of the New York Public Library on Fifth Ave" (NCW to Andrew Newell Wyeth, dated in another hand Feb. 26, 1916, Wyeth Family Archives).
At least some of Wyeth's paintings in the collection of the New York Public Library must have needed remedial treatment, for in 1940 the artist offered to "clean and back them" (Helen A. Masters, NYPL, to NCW, Jan. 20, 1940, Wyeth Family Archives); it is likely that the hardboard support on this painting was applied by Wyeth himself.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Peter Ralston, www.pralston.com