Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Constitution Bombarding Tripoli
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1942
Dimensions:
28 × 25 1/2 in. (71.1 × 64.8 cm)
Courtesy U. S. Naval Academy Museum
Accession number: SUPP2000.552
Research Number: NCW: 552
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse of panel, Renaissance Panel label, no. 1120, dated 8/9/42; written on panel label: The Constitution bombarding / Tripoli / # 3; written on panel" # 7 (crossed out)
ProvenanceJohn Morrell & Company, Ottumwa, IA, to 1944; gift to the U. S. Naval Academy
References
Catalogue of Paintings (Annapolis, MD: U. S. Naval Academy, 1961), no. 217, p. 13; American History Illustrated Magazine, vol. II, no. 10 (Feb. 1968), cover illustration in color; Frederick Ray, O! Say Can You See (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1970), illustration in color, p. 69; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 291; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.155, p. 689-690
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide made from the composition drawing for this image (NCWS.95.1825.144), used in the transfer of the image from paper to panel; and an archival photograph of the image annotated in the artist's hand: VIII / The Constitution in Tripoli Harbor. The painting is dated by letter (NCW to Andrew Wyeth, Sept. 15, 1942, Wyeth Family Archives).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Greg Staley, 1/2006