Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
King Mark slew the noble knight Sir Tristram as he sat harping before his lady la Belle Isolde
Alternate Title(s):The Death of Tristram
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1917
Dimensions:
40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.176
Research Number: NCW: 176
InscribedUpper left: N C WYETH (underlined); Label adhered to stretcher: Charles Scribner's Sons / 5th Ave. at 48th St. / New York, N. Y. / Book Section / Joseph Horne Co. / Pittsburgh, Pa.; label adhered to top stretcher member: Brandywine River Museum / NC Wyeth Exhibition May 20-Oct 15, 1972; label adhered to back of frame: M H DE YOUNG MEMORIAL MUSEUM / GOLDEN GATE PARK, SAN FRANCISCO, CA / "The Art of Andrew Wyeth" / Cat. No. 91/ June 16-Sept 4, 1973;
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, NY, 1917 to ca. 1935; Mr. and Mrs. David A. Randall; Mr. and Mrs. Ronald R. Randall; (Richard Layton, ca. 1981); Private collection to 2007; (Sotheby's, New York, NY, May 23, 2007, lot no. 198)
Exhibition HistoryBrooklyn, NY, 1920, no. 13 as "The Death of Tristram"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 100; San Francisco, CA, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, "The Art of Andrew Wyeth," June 16 - Sept. 3, 1973, no. 91; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, "Enchanted Castles and Noble Knights," Nov. 28, 2014-Jan. 4, 2015; Greenville, DE, Somerville Manning Gallery, "N. C. Wyeth: Painter and Illustrator," June 14-Sept. 14, 2019;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 209; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), illustration in color after p. 180; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.669, p. 350
Curatorial RemarksWyeth often used members of his family as models. In his biography of N. C. Wyeth, David Michaelis asserts that for the figure of Isolde, Wyeth used his sister-in-law Nancy Bockius for a model because Carolyn Wyeth was pregnant with Andrew during the summer of 1917 when the Boy's King Arthur pictures were being painted. Nevertheless, Isolde's face resembles Carolyn Bockius Wyeth (Michaelis, unnumbered p. between 180 and 181).
The Brandywine River Museum holds the copy of the Boy's King Arthur that Wyeth read in preparation for this commission (NCWS.95.171, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908, illustrations by Alfred Kappes). The endsheets of this edition are marked with notes Wyeth made as he selected the incidents to picture.
The Brandywine River Museum holds the copy of the Boy's King Arthur that Wyeth read in preparation for this commission (NCWS.95.171, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908, illustrations by Alfred Kappes). The endsheets of this edition are marked with notes Wyeth made as he selected the incidents to picture.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:(digitally adjusted) photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Luna Imaging, Inc.