Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
In the fork, like a mastheaded seaman, there stood a man in a green tabard, spying far and wide
Alternate Title(s):The Man in the Green Tabard
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
40 × 32 1/8 in. (101.6 × 81.6 cm)
The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.342
Research Number: NCW: 342
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / © C.S.S.; written on reverse of canvas, u.l.: 1; written on reverse of canvas, l.l.: copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons; written on excess tacking edge at u.l.: 1 (circled); written on top stretcher member: B11135; written on left stretcher member: over / door to / bedroom; adhered to top stretcher member, partial Scribner's label: From / Scribner's Magazine / Fifth Avenue New York; adhered over Scribner's label, partial label with typewritten: JAMES LAUGHLIN PHILLIPS; label adhered to right stretcher member: HADERER CO. / ART SHOP / PICTURE FRAMING / ARTIST MATERIALS / 209 W. 9TH ST. / WILMINGTON, DEL.; written on right stretcher member below Haderer label: Scr
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY; Collection of James Laughlin Phillips, New York, NY; (?); (McAdoo Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, and Frank E. Fowler, 1972)
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, 1985; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(2), no. 30, illus. in color. p. 112; Chadds Ford, PA, 1990(1)
References
The Independent, vol. 88, no. 3548 (Dec. 4, 1916), color cover, as "The Man in the Green Tabard"; 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), illus. in color after p. 244; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.609, p. 322, 323
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition of The Black Arrow which the artist read to prepare for this commission, with notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (NCWS.95.163). James Laughlin Phillips, the first owner of the painting (d. 1918), was the brother of Duncan Phillips, who founded the Phillips Memorial Gallery in his memory.
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Brandywine River Museum photography files