Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Onion House
Medium: Watercolor on paper
Date: ca. 1898
Dimensions:
9 7/8 × 13 7/8 in. (25.1 × 35.2 cm)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.3
Research Number: NCW: 906
InscribedLower right in ink: N. C. WYETH / (CIRCA) 1898; on reverse in pencil: 10 x 14 $2.80 Wyeth / 1- N (illegible numbers) N. C. Wyeth (illegible); on old backing paper, label of George Hardcastle & Son Art Store, Wilmington, Delaware
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth
Curatorial RemarksThe subject of this picture was identified by Andrew Wyeth. Onion, from a prominent Dedham family, was a Civil War veteran whom Wyeth knew as boy; his Civil war uniform was acquired by N. C. Wyeth and "worn by" Captain Hardy when Wyeth painted The Mysterious Island. (Henriette Wyeth painted a portrait of her brother Andrew wearing the uniform; Andrew eventually inherited it.) The "Onion House" is recognizable in the backgrounds of several of N. C. Wyeth's paintings, The Red Pung (CW 52), Spring - 1918 (NCW 143), and The War Letter (NCW 53). According to Andrew Wyeth, this watercolor hung in his parent's bedroom.
The house was built in 1756 by Hezekiah Fuller (see John M. Whitcomb of Dedham to AW, March 26, 1961, Wyeth Family Archives, and quoted by David Michaelis, email to CBP 11/21/2006) and still stands.
The house was built in 1756 by Hezekiah Fuller (see John M. Whitcomb of Dedham to AW, March 26, 1961, Wyeth Family Archives, and quoted by David Michaelis, email to CBP 11/21/2006) and still stands.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency from painting
Photo Credit:R. Echelmeyer, 10/2000