Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
These three carried rifles slung across their pommels, and in front of them rode the stranger.
Alternate Title(s):The Posse
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1906
Dimensions:
38 × 24 in. (96.5 × 61 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.992
Research Number: NCW: 992
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / -06-
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY, to at least 1931; (?); (Nancy Crook International Art Gallery, El Paso, TX, 1972); Frances McKee Hays, El Paso, TX, 1972 ; (American Illustrators Gallery, New York, NY, 1993)
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 217; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.124, p. 140
Curatorial RemarksThis is the last of the four pictures the artist did for Whispering Smith. He judged it "the best color I've done in a long while" (NCW to Carolyn Bockius Wyeth, "I presume this will be the last..." and dated in another hand July 15, 1906, Wyeth Family Archives). The picture was completed in two days, and regarding the set, he told his mother, "I've got the spirit of the narrative in all of the pictures and that's more than half the value" (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "My work, after a very hard fight,..." and dated in another hand July 15, 1906, Wyeth Family Archives).
Henriette and Peter Hurd saw and authenticated this painting in 1971 when it measured 38 x 24 inches. The painting was mounted on to a hardboard support on Jan. 29, 1972 by F. I. Lovret, and at that point measured 38 x 25 3/4. The hardboard support was removed at a later date.
Henriette and Peter Hurd saw and authenticated this painting in 1971 when it measured 38 x 24 inches. The painting was mounted on to a hardboard support on Jan. 29, 1972 by F. I. Lovret, and at that point measured 38 x 25 3/4. The hardboard support was removed at a later date.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Digital photography directly from painting
Photo Credit:Photography by Ernie Brown, 4/2005