Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Hamilton Mural (Alexander Hamilton addressing George Washington and Robert Morris)
Alternate Title(s):The Founders of Our National Financial Policies
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1922
Dimensions:
approximately 144 × 120 in. (365.8 × 304.8 cm)
The Langham Hotel, Boston
Accession number: SUPP2000.798
Research Number: NCW: 798
Inscribedlower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceFederal Reserve Bank of Boston, 1922-1977; (1977, Federal Reserve Bank vacated building leaving murals to subsequent tenants)
References
N. C. Wyeth, "The Hamilton Mural Painting," Federal Reserve Society News, vol. 4, no. 1 (April 1922), ps. 2-4, 18 (and reprinted in Landmark '76, vol. 2, no. 1 (undated), occasional publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, ps. 2-4); "Formal Opening of New Boston Federal Reserve Bank," Boston Evening Transcript, April 8, 1922, illus. in situ, 4: p. 6; "N. C. Wyeth Completes His Historical Mural Paintings for New Boston Federal Reserve Bank," Sunday (Boston) Herald Magazine, Aug. 6, 1922, illus. in Rotogravure Section; "Two Notable Lincoln and Washington Mural Paintings to Be Seen at Federal Reserve Bank," The Boston Globe, Feb. 12, 1923, p. 16; "The Founders of Our National Financial Policies," Ladies' Home Journal, vol. XLI, no. 2 (Feb. 1924), illus. in color p. 19; F. J. Stimson, "Boston of the Future," Scribner's Magazine, vol. LXXXIV, no. 1 (July 1928), illus. b/w p. 12; Anton Kamp, "I Knew Him Well," undated and unpublished manuscript, ps. 5-6, Brandywine River Museum library, N. C. Wyeth collection; Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 678, 685, 690-691, 692-693; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), ps. 159, 283; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.12, p. 601
Curatorial RemarksRoger L. Scaife, an editor at Houghton Mifflin Company, introduced R. Clipston Sturgis, the architect for the project, to Wyeth's work. Scaife wrote to Wyeth on March 6, 1920, "It is possible you might secure from [Sturgis] a commission to decorate one or two panels in the new Federal Bank Building here in Boston." (RLS to NCW, March 6, 1920, bMS Am 1925 (1962), by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.) The artist was awarded the commission in late April, 1921 (see NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, April 27, 1921, Boston Public Library, Dept. of Rare Books and Manuscripts).
In an April 1922 article published in the Federal Reserve Society News, Wyeth recounted a detailed description of the genesis of the picture, which included at least one alternate composition (Brandywine River Museum, 96.1.22). At least two books (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.683, Alexander Hamilton by Henry Cabot Lodge, and NCWS.95.694, Alexander Hamilton by Henry Ford Jones) containing notes and a sketch that pertain to this commission remain in the artist's studio library.
NCW 2656, a drawing, may be related to this commission.
In 2015, a copy of this work by Edmund Henry Garrett (1853-1929) was for sale (#1648) with Joan R. Brownstein 18th and 19th Century Folk Art in Newbury, MA. The painting is clearly inscribed "From original by N. C. Wyeth."
In an April 1922 article published in the Federal Reserve Society News, Wyeth recounted a detailed description of the genesis of the picture, which included at least one alternate composition (Brandywine River Museum, 96.1.22). At least two books (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.683, Alexander Hamilton by Henry Cabot Lodge, and NCWS.95.694, Alexander Hamilton by Henry Ford Jones) containing notes and a sketch that pertain to this commission remain in the artist's studio library.
NCW 2656, a drawing, may be related to this commission.
In 2015, a copy of this work by Edmund Henry Garrett (1853-1929) was for sale (#1648) with Joan R. Brownstein 18th and 19th Century Folk Art in Newbury, MA. The painting is clearly inscribed "From original by N. C. Wyeth."
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from artwork
Photo Credit:1. Michael Gould. 2. Joan R. Brownstein 18th and 19th Century Folk Art, Newbury, MA.