Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
And Lawless, keeping half a step in front of his companion and holding his head forward like a hunting-dog upon the scent, . . . studied out their path
Alternate Title(s):Dick and Lawless in Holyrood Forest; Holyrood Forest
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm)
The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.249
Research Number: NCW: 249
InscribedUpper left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); lower left: ©C.S.S.
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, NY, 1916; Robert Morrison, Weston, MA; (?); (Frank E. Fowler, Lookout Mountain, TN, ca. 1974)
Exhibition HistoryBrooklyn, NY, 1920, no. 17 as "Dick and Lawless in Holyrood Forest"; Philadelphia, PA, 1921, as "In Holyrood Forest"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(1); Chadds Ford, PA, 1985; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(2), no. 29, illus. in color p. 104; Chadds Ford, PA, 1990(1); Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, "Enchanted Castles and Noble Knights," Nov. 28, 2014-Jan. 4, 2015; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, June 22-Sept. 15, 2019 (and Portland, ME, Portland Museum of Art, Oct. 4, 2019-Jan. 12, 2020, and Cincinnati, OH, Taft Museum, Feb. 8-May 3, 2020), "N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives," illus. p. 144
References
Henry C. Pitz, Illustrating Children's Books (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1963), illus. p. 71; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219; Thomas Hoving, "Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons," (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976), illus. b/w p. 7 fig. 3; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), color detail, dust-jacket illus.; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.615, p. 326, 327
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition of The Black Arrow which the artist read to prepare for this commission, with notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (NCWS.95.163). The painting has been lined and is attached to a new stretcher.
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Digital photography from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy MBNA