Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Heidi
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: SUPP2000.1012
Research Number: NCW: 1012
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
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N. C. Wyeth, Income tax notes for 1940 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum library); "The Stouthearted Heroes of a Beloved Painter," Life Magazine, vol. 43, no. 24 (Dec. 9, 1957), illustration in color p. 93; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 208; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 385 and illust. in color after p. 340; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1288, p. 580
Curatorial RemarksIt would seem that this was not one of the subjects Houghton Mifflin wanted illustrated. On a sheet interleaved in the unillustrated volume with which Wyeth planned out his pictures, he wrote "? in place of Heidi" (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.595). In Jan. 1940, the artist wrote to Lovell Thompson at Houghton Mifflin, "I do wish the editors would reconsider and allow me to do "In the Pasture" from Heidi. You know, my mother was from Switzerland and I may have something to say about the mountains around Zurich (where my grandfather was born) that will be different. Furthermore, in my selection of the whole series this one strikes a different note from all the others" (Houghton Library, Harvard University). NCW 2068 is a composition drawing.
David Michaelis believes that the figure of Heidi was modeled after Caroline Pyle Wyeth, Howard Pyle's neice whom Nathaniel Wyeth married in 1937.
David Michaelis believes that the figure of Heidi was modeled after Caroline Pyle Wyeth, Howard Pyle's neice whom Nathaniel Wyeth married in 1937.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Joseph Painter, 1/2003; Conservation work by Franklin Shores