Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Nathan Hale
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1922
Dimensions:
40 1/8 × 30 1/8 in. (101.9 × 76.5 cm)
Collection of the Hill School, Pottstown, PA
Accession number: SUPP2000.769
Research Number: NCW: 769
InscribedUpper left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceN. C. Wyeth; purchased by Michael F. Sweeney for The Hill School, 1923
Exhibition HistoryHarrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 64; Lititz, PA, 1991; Roanoke, VA, 1991; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, One Nation, Patriots and Pirates Portrayed by N. C. Wyeth and James Wyeth, June 2-Sept. 3, 2001 (only venue); Rockland, ME, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Poems of American Patriotism," May 15 - Sept. 26, 2010; Sandwich, MA, Heritage Museum and Gardens, "The Wyeths: America Reflected," June 6 - Sept. 27, 2015;
References
George E. Freeland, et al., America's Building, The Makers of Our Flag (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937), illus. p. 99; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 212; "Sweeney's Legacy," Hill (The Hill School Bulletin), Sept. 1980, illus. p. 16; Tom Brokaw, et al., One Nation, Patriots and Pirates Portrayed by N. C. Wyeth and James Wyeth (Boston: Bulfinch Press, Little Brown and Co., 2000), fig. 19 on p. 20; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.901, p. 436; Martha Severens, "The Wyeths: America Reflected," American Art Review, vol. xxvii, no. 3 (May-June 2015), illus. p. 101;
Curatorial RemarksThe unillustrated edition of Poems of American Patriotism that the artist read and annotated in preparation for this commission is in the collection of the Brandywine River Museum (NCWS.95.157). The artist's reaction to the Hill School purchase is expressed in a letter to Arthur L. Bailey, librarian of the Wilmington Institute Library, "At present, I am sitting on top of the world!" (NCW to ALB, May 14, 1923, Wilmington Institute Library).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 4/1999