Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Newborn Calf
Alternate Title(s):Cows in Moonlight; Cows in the Moonlight; New Born Calf
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1917
Dimensions:
42 1/8 × 47 1/4 in. (107 × 120 cm)
The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.29
Research Number: NCW: 29
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH / 1917
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs N. C. Wyeth to 1971
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1917, no. 142, as "Cows in Moonlight"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1971, no. 74, illus. in b/w p. 59, as "New Born Calf"; Greenville, SC, 1974, no. 31; Princeton, NJ, 1977, no. 9; Roslyn, NY, Nassau County Museum of Art, "Animals in American Art: 1880's-1980's," Oct. 4, 1981- Jan. 17, 1982, no. 60, illus. b/w (unpaginated); Chadds Ford, PA, 1982, no. 27, illus. in color, p. 44, see also p. 24; Cedar Rapids, IA, 1990; Chadds Ford, PA, 1997, no numbers, illus. in color, p. 8; Chadds Ford, PA, 2005
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 558; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), b/w illustration p. 178; Carol Billman, "N. C. Wyeth," American History Illustrated, vol. XX, no. 10 (Feb. 1986), color illustration p. 34; Kate F. Jennings, N. C. Wyeth (New York, NY: Brompton Books Corp., Crescent Books, 1992), color illustration p. 92-93; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), b/w illustration p. 242; James H. Duff, "An American Vision," printed in An American Vision Three Generations of Wyeth Art (Boston: New York Graphic Society, Little, Brown and Co., 1987), b/w illustration p. 22; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (Boston: Gambit, 1998), p. 241; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.115, p. 736, 737
Curatorial RemarksWyeth probably began this painting in the early summer of 1917. In a letter to Sidney Chase dated Aug. 21, 1917, the artist wrote "The moonlight of cows I am still working on from observational studies only. I hope to send this to Wilmington in November." A charcoal drawing of a cow with its newborn calf (NCW 2640) may relate to the original composition.
The artist wrote to his brother Stimson on Oct. 3, 1917, "I have developed the New Born Calf picture...and have it well in hand for final completion. It is immensely improved and all in all I feel it the most satisfactory painting I've yet done. I made a radical change in it a few days ago...(now) the calf is lying down partly in the shadow of its mother, retaining all the sentiment of motherly protection and concern..." (NCW to Stimson Wyeth, Oct. 3. 1917, Wyeth Family Archives). Wyeth's letter to his mother dated Nov. 1, 1917, contains the postscript, "Finished the cows in the moonlight yesterday. My best work. It, and the Beethoven and a big snow landscape will be in the Wil. show."
After the Wilmington exhibition, Wyeth wrote "The Cows in the Moonlight failed entirely as an exhibition attraction, partly owing to artificial lighting which killed the silver blue qualities, and partly to its conservatism of technic and subject which only speak in quiet surroundings." (NCW to HZW, WFA.)
The artist kept this painting a number of years and then decided to add figures of a farmer and his wife to the left side of the image. According to Andrew Wyeth, the change was made to enhance the work's sales appeal. The figures were removed after N. C. Wyeth's death.
The artist wrote to his brother Stimson on Oct. 3, 1917, "I have developed the New Born Calf picture...and have it well in hand for final completion. It is immensely improved and all in all I feel it the most satisfactory painting I've yet done. I made a radical change in it a few days ago...(now) the calf is lying down partly in the shadow of its mother, retaining all the sentiment of motherly protection and concern..." (NCW to Stimson Wyeth, Oct. 3. 1917, Wyeth Family Archives). Wyeth's letter to his mother dated Nov. 1, 1917, contains the postscript, "Finished the cows in the moonlight yesterday. My best work. It, and the Beethoven and a big snow landscape will be in the Wil. show."
After the Wilmington exhibition, Wyeth wrote "The Cows in the Moonlight failed entirely as an exhibition attraction, partly owing to artificial lighting which killed the silver blue qualities, and partly to its conservatism of technic and subject which only speak in quiet surroundings." (NCW to HZW, WFA.)
The artist kept this painting a number of years and then decided to add figures of a farmer and his wife to the left side of the image. According to Andrew Wyeth, the change was made to enhance the work's sales appeal. The figures were removed after N. C. Wyeth's death.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting; 2. Original appearance of canvas, with group of cows on left side of image, from archival photograph stamped THE ROYAL STUDIO / COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS / WILMINGTON, DELAWARE (collection of Brandywine River Museum library); 3. Appearance of painting after the addition by the artist of figures on the left side of the image, from archival photograph (collection of Brandywine River Museum library)