Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Black Arrow, cover illustration
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
39 1/2 × 28 1/2 in. (100.3 × 72.4 cm)
Permanent collection of the Society of Illustrators
Accession number: SUPP2000.870
Research Number: NCW: 870
InscribedUpper left: N. C. WYETH; on reverse of canvas in handwriting: Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons, N. C. Wyeth
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, NY, 1916 - to at least 1927 (#B10592)
Exhibition HistoryStockbridge, MA, The Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, "The Illustrators' Hall of Fame," Feb. 10 - May 27, 1996 (illustrated in brochure and on invitation)
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219; Alan Bunce, "Hall of Fame Reclaims Illustrators' Art," Christian Science Monitor, March 20, 1996, illus. in color p. 12; Arpi Ermoyan, Famous American Illustrators (Crans, Switzerland: Rotovision, S.A., for the Society of Illustrators, 1997), illus. in color, pg. 54' Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.603, p. 320
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition of The Black Arrow which the artist read to prepare for this commission, with notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (NCWS.95.163).
Records at the Society of Illustrators document the painting in the collection by 1939 and suggest that it was a gift of the artist.
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
Records at the Society of Illustrators document the painting in the collection by 1939 and suggest that it was a gift of the artist.
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to ANW, 2/26/1916, WFA). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Digital photography directly from painting