Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Captain Bligh was standing by the mizzenmast
Alternate Title(s):Bligh Fights Purcell
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1940
Dimensions:
28 3/4 × 20 1/2 in. (73 × 52.1 cm)
Private collection, Cumberland, ME
Accession number: SUPP2000.1089
Research Number: NCW: 1089
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); Renaissance Panel label adhered to reverse, no. 833, dated 10-27-39; inscribed on reverse of panel: The Mutiny on the "Bounty" / p. 126 / To Harold Hupper / From N. C. Wyeth; along bottom of panel on reverse: 006-32-007-D
ProvenanceThe artist; Harold Hupper; Gertrude M. (Mrs. Harold) Hupper
Exhibition HistoryRockland, ME, 1982, p. 9; Kalamazoo, MI, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, "The Wyeths, America's Artists," Jan. 15-April 17, 2011, as "Bligh Fights Purcell";
References
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.1294, p. 582, 583
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; a composition drawing for the painting (NCW 2073, 96.1.545); and a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.115) of the drawing that was used in the transfer of the image from paper to panel. Harold Hupper was a Martinsville resident, plumber, and friend of N. C. Wyeth who looked after the Wyeth property during the off-season.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Dennis Griggs, 7/2004