On the Sea Wall with John Paul Jones For a long moment Paul Jones gazed out over the crowded shipping, down the long narrow harbor, out to the open water. He whistled dolefully between his teeth

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

On the Sea Wall with John Paul Jones
For a long moment Paul Jones gazed out over the crowded shipping, down the long narrow harbor, out to the open water. He whistled dolefully between his teeth

Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1928
Dimensions:
40 × 32 1/8 in. (101.6 × 81.6 cm)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.161
Research Number: NCW: 161
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); written on reverse of canvas (not in NCW's hand): 11 (encirlced) / John Paul Jones; across top stretcher (not in NCW's hand): 50786 -5 3/8 4 color 18 (illegible); proper left stretcher bar stamped: PAT FEB'Y 2 1886 / 40"; label adhered to top stretcher: ON THE SEAWALL WITH JOHN PAUL JONES / Drawn by N. C. Wyeth for DRUMS by James Boyd / (illegible) $550
ProvenanceThe artist; (?); Private collection, Akron, OH, 1972; (William Vareika Fine Arts, Ltd., Newport, RI, ca. 1999); (Nicholas Wyeth, Inc., Cushing, ME); MBNA America, Wilmington, DE, 1999-2005
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 77; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(1); Rockland, ME, 2000, illus. in color, fig. 4; Wilmington, DE, 2007; Paris, Mona Bismarck Foundation, "The Wyeths, Trois generations d'artistes americains," Nov. 10, 2011- Feb. 12, 2012, illus. in color, p. 93; Portland, OR, Portland Museum of Art, "The Wyeths: Three Generations, Works form the Bank of America Collection," Oct. 7, 2017-Jan. 28, 2018;
References George E. Freeland, et al., America's Building, The Makers of Our Flag (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937), illus. p. 99; Ernest W. Watson, Forty Illustrators and How They Work (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1946), illus. p. 311; Henry C. Pitz, A Treasury of American Book Illustration (New York: American Studio Books and Watson-Guptill, 1947), illus. p. 94; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 199; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1070, p. 504-505
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds Scribner's unillustrated 1925 edition of Drums which the artist read in preparation for this commission and marked with notes throughout and on the endsheets (NCWS.95.239).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 6/2001; post-conservation treatment photo by Jim Schneck, 8/2004