Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Columbus Discovers America
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1942
Dimensions:
27 × 25 1/2 in. (68.6 × 64.8 cm)
Courtesy U. S. Naval Academy Museum
Accession number: SUPP2000.547
Research Number: NCW: 547
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse of panel, Renaissance Panel label, no. 1116, "27 x 27," dated 7/9/42; written on panel label: # 1 / Columbus / Discovers / America; painted on reverse of panel: THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS / ON / SAN SALVADOR / N. C. WYETH 1942 (last line underlined) / # 8
ProvenanceJohn Morrell & Company, Ottumwa, IA, to 1944; Gift to the U. S. Naval Academy
References
"N. C. Wyeth," Life Magazine, vol. 20 no. 24 (June 17, 1946) p. 78 (painting shown on easel in photograph of Wyeth working in studio); Catalogue of Paintings (Annapolis, MD: U. S. Naval Academy Museum, 1961), p. 13, no. 216; Frederick Ray, O! Say Can You See (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1970), illus. in color p. 25; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 291; American History Illustrated, vol. XXV, no. 6 (Jan.-Feb. 1991), illustrated on cover; Barbara Groseclose, "American Genesis: The Landing of Christopher Columbus," published in T. W. Gaehtgens and H. Ickstadt, eds., American Icons: Transatlantic Perspectives on Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century American Art (Santa Monica, CA: Getty Center for the History of Art and Humanities, 1992), p. ; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.154, p. 689
Curatorial RemarksThe calendar was accompanied by a short biographical sketch of the artist, printed beneath a wood-cut style drawing of him painting this image in his studio. As a basis for his drawing, the sketch artist used a photograph credited to James L. Dillon & Co., which was later published in Life Magazine.
Extant are a composition drawing for this image (NCW 648); a study for the figure of Columbus (NCW 2329); and an archival photograph of the painting annotated in the artist's hand," Columbus at San Salvador." (Brandywine River Museum library).
Extant are a composition drawing for this image (NCW 648); a study for the figure of Columbus (NCW 2329); and an archival photograph of the painting annotated in the artist's hand," Columbus at San Salvador." (Brandywine River Museum library).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting; 2. N. C. Wyeth posed in his studio with "Columbus Discovers America" on the easel.
Photo Credit:1. Greg Staley, 1/2006; 2. James L. Dillion & Co., ca. 1942