Jack the Giant-Killer

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

Jack the Giant-Killer

Alternate Title(s):The Two-Headed Giant
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1938
Dimensions:
29 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (74.9 × 57.2 cm)
Private Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.574
Research Number: NCW: 574
InscribedLower left.: N. C. WYETH (underlined faintly); on reverse, Renaissance Panel label no. 633, prepared 3/18/38; on back of panel: JACK THE GIANT-KILLER / P. 102
ProvenanceTeh artist; Nathaniel C. Wyeth (son); Private collection, ca. 1970 - 1990; (Judy Goffman Fine Art, New York, NY,, to 1996); David C. Wyeth; (New York, NY, Christie's, May 23, 2017, lot no. 42);
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1942(1), no. 54; Wilmington, DE, 1946, no. 29; Japan (3 venues), American Illustrators Gallery (organizer), "The Great American Illustrators," 1993, illus. in color p. 45, no. 24 p. 126
References N. C. Wyeth, Income tax notes for 1940 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum library); "Stouthearted Heroes of a Beloved Painter," Life Magazine, vol. 43, no. 24 (Dec. 9, 1957), illus. in color p. 92; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 208; David C. Wyeth,"My Family's Picture," Art & Antiques (Feb. 1994), ps. 30-31; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 388 and illus. b/w p. 389; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1247, p. 565
Curatorial RemarksThe composition drawing (NCW 1463) for the image is exant. The Brandywine River Museum holds an earlier, unillustrated edition of the book that the artist used to plan his pictures (NCWS.95.595) and the lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.61) made from the composition drawing that was used in the transfer of the image from paper to panel.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Courtesy the Archive of the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC