Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
David and Goliath
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: ca. 1939
Dimensions:
27 7/8 × 20 1/2 in. (70.8 × 52.1 cm)
The Free Library of Philadelphia, Childrens Literature Research Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1011
Research Number: NCW: 1011
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse, Renaissance Panel label no. 831, dated 10/27/(19)39; painted on reverse: DAVID AND GOLIATH; adhered to reverse, label of the Free Library of Philadelphia with typewritten inscription: HARRY GALE / BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB / 385 MADISON AVENUE / NEW YORK N.Y. / EXPRESS COLLECT / SPECIAL HANDLING
ProvenanceThe artist; anonymous donor to present collection, 1941
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1941(2);
References
N.C. Wyeth, Income tax notes for 1940 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum library); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 208; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1261, p. 569
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds an earlier, unillustrated edition of this book that the artist used to plan his pictures (NCWS.95.595) and a lantern slide of the composition drawing (NCWS.95.1825.67). In his 1940 income tax notes, the artist listed as an expense for this painting a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study the armor collection.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Joseph Painter, 7/2002; Conservation work by Franklin Shores