Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"When Drake saw for the first time the waters of the South Sea."
Alternate Title(s):Sir Francis Drake
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1906
Dimensions:
37 1/4 × 23 1/4 in. (94.6 × 59.1 cm)
Private collection, Gates Mills, OH
Accession number: SUPP2000.695
Research Number: NCW: 695
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / -06; on reverse, Vose Gallery label: Vose Galleries of Boston Incorporated, established 1841 / 238 Newbury Street / Boston, 02116 / Artist: N. C. Wyeth / Title: Sir Francis Drake / #21929, size 38 x 24" / 2/14/67
Provenance(Vose Galleries, Boston, MA, 1967); Private collection, San Francisco, CA; (Ronald R. Randall, John Howell-Books, San Francisco, CA, 1971)
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 268; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.141, p. 147
Curatorial RemarksIn a letter dated March 1906, the artist wrote to his father:"I've started one of five drawings for Outing and have it on the way to completion. I made one attempt which proved to be unsatisfactory, the second is more successful. Mr. Pyle is much pleased with it and claims it to be a big jump ahead. The subject is Sir Francis Drake at the top of a tropical tree gazing for the first time on the South Seas." (NCW to ANW, "Dear Papa, I just received the double letter..," undated but March 1906, Wyeth Family Archives.) Almost two weeks later, he reported: "I've finished a picture for Outing also, (Sir Francis Drake at the top of a tree...)....I managed to get one of the best illustrations I ever did from it. It pleased me greatly as it was not the result of an inspiration, but of the weaving to-gether of cold hard facts and technical knowledge..." (NCW to HZW, "Dear Mama, To-day its bright and cold..." undated but March 1906 by context, Wyeth Family Archives)
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Howard Agriesti, Photographer