Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Thumbelisa
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1940
Dimensions:
30 × 20 1/2 in. (76.2 × 52.1 cm)
The Free Library of Philadelphia, Childrens Literature Research Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1006
Research Number: NCW: 1006
InscribedLower left, scratched into ground: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse, Renaissance Panel label no. 892 (probably), dated 3/26/40; painted on reverse: THUMBELISIA (sic) / P. 194
ProvenanceThe artist; anonymous donor to present collection, 1941
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1941(2)
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income tax notes for 1940 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum Library); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 208; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1287, p. 579
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds an earlier, unillustrated edition of this book that the artist used to plan his pictures (NCWS.95.595). NCW 2072 is the charcoal composition drawing for the image, but differs from the finished work. In his income tax notes for 1940, the artist listed a taxi trip to a "Du Pont Garden," most likely Longwood Gardens in nearby Kennett Square, as one of his expenses for this painting.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Joseph Painter, 1/2003; Conservation work by Franklin Shores