Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
With a quick, noiseless stride, he crossed the narrow space.
Alternate Title(s):A Special Ring; The Courtship; The Lovers
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1904
Dimensions:
30 × 20 in. (76.2 × 50.8 cm)
The Parker Family Collection, managed by Fred Parker
Accession number: SUPP2000.630
Research Number: NCW: 630
InscribedLower right: N C Wyeth 04
ProvenanceSidney Sands, New York, NY, from early 1930s to 1976; descended in family to 1981;
Curatorial RemarksA Speckled Bird was originally published in 1902, in editions by G. W. Dillingham and A. L. Burt. A least one of the Dillingham printings and the edition issued by Burt have a frontispiece depicting the same incident in the story, clearly signed in the reproduction "F. Watson Davis."
The Co-Operative Publication Society's edition is volume 3 in a set titled "The Works of Augusta Evans Wilson in Eight Volumes." Other Pyle students to illustrate frontispieces for the series are: Oliver Kemp, H. C. Wall, Thornton Oakley, Henry Peck and possibly Allan Tupper True. (The Brandywine River Museum of Art holds Oakley's "An Incomplete Record of the Work of Thornton Oakley--Box 1, Folder 3, TO Papers--which lists his contribution to the volume of Wilson's "Infelice.")
In volume 3, only the original publication date of A Speckled Bird is given, but the date of the painting suggests that the set appeared in 1904 or later.
The Co-Operative Publication Society's edition is volume 3 in a set titled "The Works of Augusta Evans Wilson in Eight Volumes." Other Pyle students to illustrate frontispieces for the series are: Oliver Kemp, H. C. Wall, Thornton Oakley, Henry Peck and possibly Allan Tupper True. (The Brandywine River Museum of Art holds Oakley's "An Incomplete Record of the Work of Thornton Oakley--Box 1, Folder 3, TO Papers--which lists his contribution to the volume of Wilson's "Infelice.")
In volume 3, only the original publication date of A Speckled Bird is given, but the date of the painting suggests that the set appeared in 1904 or later.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from artwork