Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
John Alden and Priscilla
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1945
Dimensions:
108 × 120 1/2 in. (274.3 × 306.1 cm)
Collection of MetLife, New York
Accession number: SUPP2000.445
Research Number: NCW: 445
InscribedLeft side, at 1/3 from bottom: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceCommissioned from NCW by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1985, no. 5
References
Robert San Souci, N. C. Wyeth's Pilgrims (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1991), color illus. (unpaginated); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.77, p. 634
Curatorial RemarksThe artist's correspondence makes it clear Wyeth worked on this mural during July, 1945 (Wyeth Family Archives). The Brandywine River Museum holds extensive correspondence between the artist and the architect Arthur O. Angilly which touches on all phases of the commission.
NCW 2651 is the composition drawing for this painting. Photographic negatives and lantern slides of the drawing, ruled and numbered for transfer, were found in John McCoy's studio (see Ann Wyeth McCoy collection, Brandywine Museum Library). McCoy helped his father-in-law transfer the images from paper to canvas.
In the mid-1980s, the MetLife murals were removed from the walls of their original location at One Madison Avenue, New York, and placed on strainers. MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
NCW 2651 is the composition drawing for this painting. Photographic negatives and lantern slides of the drawing, ruled and numbered for transfer, were found in John McCoy's studio (see Ann Wyeth McCoy collection, Brandywine Museum Library). McCoy helped his father-in-law transfer the images from paper to canvas.
In the mid-1980s, the MetLife murals were removed from the walls of their original location at One Madison Avenue, New York, and placed on strainers. MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Photo by: Malcolm Varon, NYC, copyright © 2007