Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Duel on the Beach
Alternate Title(s):"Allons!," said De Bernis. "It is time to make an end. So!" He parried. "So!"
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1926
Dimensions:
48 × 60 in. (121.9 × 152.4 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.677
Research Number: NCW: 677
InscribedLower left: © N. C. WYETH / -1926-
ProvenanceCarl G. Fisher, Miami Beach, FL; (?); John Oliver LaGorce, to 1959; gifted by his widow Ethel Bloedorn to the National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, 1963; NGS to 2012; (New York, NY, Christie's, Dec. 6, 2012, lot no. 133);
Exhibition HistoryWashington, DC, Mayflower Hotel, April-May l926; Washington, DC, 1946, no. 19, as "The Duel on the Beach"; Washington, DC, National Geographic Society, Explorers Hall, "The Artist Explores Our World," July 14 - Nov. 27, 1988, no numbers (also, New York, NY, Museum of American Illustration, May 17- June 24, 1988)
References
"Duel on Beach," Washington (DC) Post, May 9, 1926, and "The Duel on the Beach, A New Oil Painting by N. C. Wyeth,..." from unidentified Washington newspaper (Brandywine River Museum library) for accounts of commission and exhibition at Mayflower Hotel; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 226, 263; "Behind the Scenes," National Geographic Magazine, vol. 195, no. 5 (May 1999), illus. in color (page unnumbered); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1039, p. 492, 493
Curatorial RemarksThis painting was commissioned for the entrepreneur and pirate enthusiast Carl G. Fisher, certainly in Fisher's possession by May, 1926. Correspondence at the National Geographic Society makes it clear that John Oliver LaGorce supplied Wyeth with photographs of several of Fisher's friends, portraits of whom Wyeth incorporated into the picture. (For example, the two pirates watching from between and behind the duelers have been identified as James Allison, President of Allison Motors, Indianapolis, IN, on the left and John Oliver LaGorce of the National Geographic Society).
Sabatini's "Duel on the Beach" was published in the September, 1931 Ladies' Home Journal and expanded to become "The Black Swan." Passages in "The Duel on the Beach" which describe aspects of the painting suggest that Sabatini may have written the story to correspond with the painting. Sabatini's Captain Blood (1922) also includes a duel scene (ps. 160-167) that might have inspired the image
The Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph of the painting in an elaborate overmantle-style frame designed by the artist and carved by the Wilmington frame maker Frank Coll. "...the carved frame is a knockout! It makes (underlined) the picture. I consider it the richest and most sumptuous piece of art and applied art that has ever been done in the my studio" (NCW to Charles W. Beck, undated but ca. 1926, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC). The frame has not been discovered, but the Brandywine River Museum holds a companion frame (NCWS.95.6442 probably made about the same time, and the Andrew and Betsy Wyeth collection includes Wyeth's drawing (NCW 2147) for the frame.
Wyeth used the motif of the central duel in at least one sketch he drew as part of an inscription in a book or catalogue.
Sabatini's "Duel on the Beach" was published in the September, 1931 Ladies' Home Journal and expanded to become "The Black Swan." Passages in "The Duel on the Beach" which describe aspects of the painting suggest that Sabatini may have written the story to correspond with the painting. Sabatini's Captain Blood (1922) also includes a duel scene (ps. 160-167) that might have inspired the image
The Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph of the painting in an elaborate overmantle-style frame designed by the artist and carved by the Wilmington frame maker Frank Coll. "...the carved frame is a knockout! It makes (underlined) the picture. I consider it the richest and most sumptuous piece of art and applied art that has ever been done in the my studio" (NCW to Charles W. Beck, undated but ca. 1926, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC). The frame has not been discovered, but the Brandywine River Museum holds a companion frame (NCWS.95.6442 probably made about the same time, and the Andrew and Betsy Wyeth collection includes Wyeth's drawing (NCW 2147) for the frame.
Wyeth used the motif of the central duel in at least one sketch he drew as part of an inscription in a book or catalogue.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Photography directly from artwork; 2. Brandywine River Museum library, N. C. Wyeth collection, archival photograph showing original frame, by Frank Coll; 3. Motif of central duel, probably drawn in a book or catalogue, and later trimmed to 3 x 6 inches (private collection, as of 2007).
Photo Credit:1. National Geographic Image Collection; 2. no credit given; 3. Courtesy of John Schoonover