I took her in my arms and held her.

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

I took her in my arms and held her.

Alternate Title(s):The Lovers
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1906
Dimensions:
37 7/8 × 24 1/2 in. (96.2 × 62.2 cm)
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. James Alexander Hodges
Accession number: SUPP2000.216
Research Number: NCW: 216
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 06
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY; (?); Collection of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth, by 1974; (Frank E. Fowler);
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, exhibition galleries, 1974 and 1975
References Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 179-180; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), ps. 228, 274; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.163, p. 158
Curatorial RemarksWyeth mentioned the two pictures for "The Aide-de-Camp" (see also NCW 224), telling his mother of the great enthusiasm with which they had been received by Scribner's editors Burlingame and Chapin. Both paintings, he wrote, "resemble my past work in no way except in perhaps dramatic statement...I made radical changes...[that] you will understand better when you see the results. I will find myself working on pictures very much longer than I used to, which means not so much income but what of that, if only some day I can be called a painter!" (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "When I think of it..." and dated in another hand Oct. 11, 1906, Wyeth Family Archives). Later, he wrote "tell papa that the Civil War pictures come out in next month's Scribner's, in full color two of them. See how you will like the girl!" (NCW to HZW, "I started out the New Year..." and dated in another hand Jan. 13, 1907, Wyeth Family Archives).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Peter Brenner, 8/2005