Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Red Cross Magazine, cover illustration
Alternate Title(s):The Victorious Allies
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1918
Dimensions:
46 1/8 × 35 1/4 in. (117.2 × 89.5 cm)
Delaware Art Museum, Gift of the Bank of Delaware, 1989
Accession number: SUPP2000.1079
Research Number: NCW: 1079
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH
ProvenanceEquitable Trust Company, Wilmington, DE, by 1946; by corporate merger to Bank of Delaware, to 1989
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, Delaware Art Museum, "80 Years of Collecting: The American Illustration Collection," Dec. 13, 1991 - Feb. 23, 1992; Marietta, GA, 1998, no numbers; Rockland, ME, 2000, no. 36
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations, and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 271; Roland Elzea and Iris Snyder, American Illustration: The Collection of the Delaware Art Museum (Wilmington, DE: Delaware Art Museum, 1991), p. 157; Tom Brokaw, et al., One Nation Patriots and Pirates Portrayed by N. C. Wyeth and James Wyeth (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 2000), illustration in color p. 38, fig. 36, and p. 106, no. 36; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.739, p. 378
Curatorial RemarksLetters Wyeth wrote to his family in Needham indicate that he worked on this picture in Oct. and Nov. 1918, finishing just after Thanksgiving (see NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, dated "Studio, Friday P.M." and Nov. 27, 1918 in another hand, Wyeth Family Archives). "The Victory cover is almost done, and is a very stirring picture. You will like it." The Wyeth Family Archives includes a b/w photo by an unidentified photographer showing the completed and framed canvas set up for viewing, flanked by Liberty Loan Posters and bunting. The loan campaign began April 21, 1919. It is likely that the artist donated this picture to an auction or sale to raise money for war relief.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1.) Digital photography directly from painting; 2.) Digital scan of photograph, Wyeth Family Archives
Photo Credit:2.) Unknown photographer