Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Franklin's Arrival in Philadelphia
Alternate Title(s):Benjamin Franklin's Entry into Philadelphia; In his hand was a great fat roll, and he was eating it!
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1923
Dimensions:
40 1/2 × 29 1/2 in. (102.9 × 74.9 cm)
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Edward P. Bass, 2002.2
Accession number: SUPP2000.1186
Research Number: NCW: 1186
InscribedLower right: N C WYETH (underlined); each stretcher bar stamped with figure in pilgrim attire followed by: BAY STATE STRETCHER / MADE BY / W. J. ----- & C---- / BOSTON - MASS.; bars also stamped with lengths, 40 on vertical members and 29 on horizontal
ProvenanceBradford Stephens, Needham, MA; (?); Private collection, PA; (Frank Fowler, Lookout Mountain, TN); Private collection, Philadelphia, PA, 1974-1997; (?); Private collection, Wilmington, DE and Camden, ME; (Christie's, New York, NY, Nov. 29, 2001, lot no. 85); Edward P. Bass, Fort Worth, TX
Exhibition HistoryTyler, TX, Tyler Museum of Art, "The Wyeths Across Texas," no. 7, p. 54, illus. p. 55;
References
Frederick Houk Law, Modern Plays, Short and Long (New York: The Century Co., 1924), illustration f. p. 90; National Republic, vol. XIV, no. 11 (March 1927), cover illustration; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 205; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.943, p. 450
Curatorial RemarksThis painting was commissioned by Bradford Stephens, one of a group of men who oversaw the publication of "The Pictorial Life of Benjamin Franklin" to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of Franklin's arrival in Philadelphia (Brad Stephens to James P. Simpson, July 23, 1946, collection of Brandywine River Museum). The Stephenses were neighbors of the Wyeth family in Needham. Also involved in the project was Walter Rowlands, Chief of the Fine Arts Department of the Boston Public Library, and another Needham resident (see NCW 180).
Wyeth faithfully illustrated a passage from Franklin's "Autobiography" which described the young man's arrival in Philadelphia: "...and having no Room in my Pockets, walk'd off, with a Roll under each Arm, & eating the other. Thus I went up Market Street as far as fourth Street, passing by the Door of Mr. Read, my future Wife's Father when she standing at the Door saw me...."
Wyeth faithfully illustrated a passage from Franklin's "Autobiography" which described the young man's arrival in Philadelphia: "...and having no Room in my Pockets, walk'd off, with a Roll under each Arm, & eating the other. Thus I went up Market Street as far as fourth Street, passing by the Door of Mr. Read, my future Wife's Father when she standing at the Door saw me...."
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Photography directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Kimball Art Museum Conservation Laboratory