Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Paul Revere
Alternate Title(s):Paul Revere's Ride
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1922
Dimensions:
40 1/4 × 30 1/4 in. (102.2 × 76.8 cm)
Collection of the Hill School, Pottstown, PA
Accession number: SUPP2000.299
Research Number: NCW: 299
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); written on reverse of canvas: 6 3/4 x 5 3/8 / 69899 4 colors
ProvenanceN. C. Wyeth; purchased by Michael F. Sweeney for The Hill School, 1923
Exhibition HistoryGreenville, SC, 1974, no. 61; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(2); Lititz, PA, 1991; Roanoke, VA, 1991; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, One Nation, Patriots and Pirates Portrayed by N. C. Wyeth and James Wyeth, June 2-Sept. 3, 2001 (only venue); Rockland, ME, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Poems of American Patriotism," May 15 - Sept. 26, 2010; Sandwich, MA, Heritage Museum and Gardens, "The Wyeths: America Reflected," June 6 - Sept. 27, 2015;
References
Anton Kamp, "N. C. Wyeth, Painter and Illustrator," The Artgum, vol. IV, no. 4 (April 1926), illus. b/w p. 18; James Truslow Adams, History of the United States, vol. I (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933), end of volume illus. in b/w; Charles G. Vannest and Henry Lester Smith, Socialized History of the United States (New York: Scribner's, 1931, 1934, 1936), p. 111; James Truslow Adams and Charles G. Vannest, The Record of America (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935), illus. b/w p. 97; George E. Freeland, et al, America's Building, The Makers of Our Flag, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937, illus. p. 81; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972, p. 212, illus. in b/w p. 111; "Sweeney's Legacy," Hill (The Hill School Bulletin), September 1980, illus. p. 15; Stephen T. Bruni, et al., Wondrous Strange: The Wyeth Tradition - Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, James Wyeth (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1998), illus. in color p. 61, also p. 164; Tom Brokaw, et al, One Nation: Patriots and Pirates Portrayed by N. C. Wyeth and James Wyeth (Boston: Bulfinch Press, Little, Brown and Company, 2000), illus. in color, fig. 17 on p. 18; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.899, p. 435; Martha Severens, "The Wyeths: America Reflected," American Art Review, vol. xxvii, no. 3 (May-June 2015), illus. p. 97; Diego Cordoba, "N. C. Wyeth," in Illustrators Magazine (London: The Book Place), Autumn 2018, issue 23, illus. p. 15
Curatorial RemarksUndated promotional material prepared by the Needham Historical Society notes that the artist depicted his grandfather's Needham house, the Joshua Lewis House, in this image. However, the Lewis house is dated 1776 and given Wyeth's love of history, it is unlikely he would have made that mistake. He may certainly have used the house as a model of the type common at the time.
The unillustrated edition of Poems of American Patriotism that the artist read and annotated in preparation for this commission is in the collection of the Brandywine River Museum (NCWS.95.157). NCW 1533 is a drawing of a different composition which depicts the same event, and which may or may not be related. The artist's reaction to the Hill School purchase is expressed in a letter to Arthur L. Bailey, librarian of the Wilmington Institute Library, "At present, I am sitting on top of the world!" (NCW to ALB, May 14, 1923, Wilmington Institute Library).
This canvas was treated during the summer of 2017 by Joyce Hill Stoner at the University of Delaware/Winterthur Conservation lab. Fading reds and yellows and clumsy retouching by earlier restorers had altered the original look of the painting.
The unillustrated edition of Poems of American Patriotism that the artist read and annotated in preparation for this commission is in the collection of the Brandywine River Museum (NCWS.95.157). NCW 1533 is a drawing of a different composition which depicts the same event, and which may or may not be related. The artist's reaction to the Hill School purchase is expressed in a letter to Arthur L. Bailey, librarian of the Wilmington Institute Library, "At present, I am sitting on top of the world!" (NCW to ALB, May 14, 1923, Wilmington Institute Library).
This canvas was treated during the summer of 2017 by Joyce Hill Stoner at the University of Delaware/Winterthur Conservation lab. Fading reds and yellows and clumsy retouching by earlier restorers had altered the original look of the painting.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer