Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
There was a sound of tramping outside and the crowd came solemnly in
Alternate Title(s):The Drowning; Village Tragedy
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
40 1/4 × 32 1/8 in. (102.2 × 81.6 cm)
The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.65
Research Number: NCW: 65
InscribedUpper left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); label adhered to top stretcher bar: (Knoedler's) 54853 / Picture; label adhered to top stretcher bar: Haderer Co. / Art Shop; label adhered to top frame member: (Knoedler's) 54853 / Frame; label adhered to top frame member: NEWCOMB-MACKLIN CO. / PICTURE FRAMERS / 45 WEST 27TH STREET / NEW YORK; written in black along top frame member: BXG-2 Box 2 # 2; frame numbers and finish codes along bottom and right frame members
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth (and with Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, 1957-1968, no. 54853); Carolyn Wyeth
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1917, no. 471, as "Village Tragedy," illus. b/w; Wilmington, DE, 1946, no. 43, as "The Drowning"; Washington, DC, 1946, no. 16, as "The Drowning"; New York, NY, 1957, no. 75; Lubbock, TX, 1959, no. 20; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 63, as "The Drowning"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 81; Brookings, SD, 1973, no. 13, as "The Drowning"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(1); Princeton, NJ, 1977, no. 18; Chadds Ford, PA, 1985
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 29; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 201; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.640, p. 335
Curatorial Remarks"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).
A letter to Joseph Chapin of Scribner's regarding the paintings for this story makes it clear that Wyeth owned the originals although Harper's held the right to purchase them. If he had the opportunity, Wyeth planned to sell them for $150.00 each. (NCW to Joseph H. Chapin, undated but between May and Nov. 1916 by context, Archives of Charles Scribner's Sons, Princeton University Library).
This painting hung over the fireplace in Andrew Wyeth's Chadds Ford studio at the time of his death.
A letter to Joseph Chapin of Scribner's regarding the paintings for this story makes it clear that Wyeth owned the originals although Harper's held the right to purchase them. If he had the opportunity, Wyeth planned to sell them for $150.00 each. (NCW to Joseph H. Chapin, undated but between May and Nov. 1916 by context, Archives of Charles Scribner's Sons, Princeton University Library).
This painting hung over the fireplace in Andrew Wyeth's Chadds Ford studio at the time of his death.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 2000