Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Barbara Frietchie
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1922
Dimensions:
40 1/8 × 30 in. (101.9 × 76.2 cm)
Collection of the Hill School, Pottstown, PA
Accession number: SUPP2000.774
Research Number: NCW: 774
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceN. C. Wyeth; purchased by Michael F. Sweeney for The Hill School, 1923
Exhibition HistoryLititz, PA, 1991; Roanoke, VA, 1991; Philadelphia, PA, Union League of Philadelphia, "Artists of the Brandywine River Valley, 1850-1993," May 13 - June 30, 1993, no. 33; 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
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. 14; 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. 16 on p. 17; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.904, p. 437
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