Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Drafting the Declaration of Independence - 1776
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1944
Dimensions:
23 × 30 in. (58.4 × 76.2 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1692
Research Number: NCW: 1692
InscribedLower right: N C WYETH (underlined); on reverse, Renaissance Panel label of F. Weber Company, no. 704, dated 8/11/38; painted on panel back: ENGRAVER PLEASE DO NOT USE VASELINE / OR OTHER APPLICATION / IT WILL RUIN PAINTING / N.C.W. / "DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE COMMITTEE" / JUNE 1776 / BY N. C. WYETH / OIL ON GESSO GROUND; on paper adhered to back of panel: The event took place in early June, 1776 in Thomas Jefferson's lodgings in the house of one Mrs. Clymer. This building stood on the southwest corner of Seventh and High Streets (now Market Street) Philadelphia. The committee of five and their ages at the time, reading in the picture from left to right: John Adams, forty-one years; Roger Sherman, fifty-five years; Benjamin Franklin, seventy years; Robert Livingston, forty years; Thomas Jefferson, thirty-three years.
ProvenanceThe artist; [?]; John Brooks Flack, Syracuse, NY, and descended in family to 1995; (Hirschl & Adler, New York, NY, 1995); (Lagakos-Turak Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 1995); (Lisa Dawn Schneider Curatorial Consultants, New York, NY, 1995); private collection; (New York, NY, Christie's, Nov. 30, 2011, lot no. 91);
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 291; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.182, p. 698
Curatorial RemarksIn an undated draft of a letter to Sidney Mendelsohn of American Artists Company, the artist explained that he had used contemporary portraits of all the men as guides, particularly a portrait of Benjamin Franklin that hung in the Boston Public Library (Portrait of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Siffred Duplessis, dated 1779 and given to the BPL in 1858). He noted that "the zinc etching portrait on the wall is of Increase Mather, ...the furnishings are in period and characteristic of the better class city homes of Phila. of that time." Even the glimpse of buildings outside the window was appropriate. A note in NCW's hand giving the address of Mrs. Clymer, a reference to "Watson's Annals. 11-309," and the names and states of the participants was found in vol. 3 of The Pageant of America (NCWS.95.705.3).
According to a letter from American Artists Company to the artist (Aug. 1, 1944, Wyeth Family Archives), the original sketch for this composition was submitted to Clarence Poe of Progressive Farmer as a prospective cover, with the artist contracted to rework the design into a vertically-oriented one had Poe chosen to use it. Wyeth was paid by the Thomas D. Murphy Company $1,000 for calendar rights only, with the original art work returned to the artist.
The calendar image measures 7 7/8 x 10 1/4" (trimmed) and is copyrighted "TDM Co" in lower right (Brandywine River Museum library, #4439); another calendar image measuring 9 1/2 x 13 1/2" is copyrighted TDM Co. in lower left (BRM library, #4440).
According to a letter from American Artists Company to the artist (Aug. 1, 1944, Wyeth Family Archives), the original sketch for this composition was submitted to Clarence Poe of Progressive Farmer as a prospective cover, with the artist contracted to rework the design into a vertically-oriented one had Poe chosen to use it. Wyeth was paid by the Thomas D. Murphy Company $1,000 for calendar rights only, with the original art work returned to the artist.
The calendar image measures 7 7/8 x 10 1/4" (trimmed) and is copyrighted "TDM Co" in lower right (Brandywine River Museum library, #4439); another calendar image measuring 9 1/2 x 13 1/2" is copyrighted TDM Co. in lower left (BRM library, #4440).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY