The Nation's Pride

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

The Nation's Pride

Medium: Ink on paper
Date: 1899
Dimensions:
11 5/8 × 9 1/4 in. (29.5 × 23.5 cm)

Brandywine Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996

Accession number: 96.1.179
Research Number: NCW: 2505
InscribedOn pedestal: THE / NATION'S / PRIDE; on male figure's belt: DEWEY. To the right of the female figure: MRS. DEWEY.
Curatorial RemarksThe piece was removed from the N. C. Wyeth studio in September, 1995. NCW 2246.376 is an almost identical drawing with markings on the reverse that would indicate the image was published somewhere.
In November 1899, Admiral George Dewey, "The Nation's Pride" after his success in the Philippines, married his second wife, Mildred McLean Hazen. Mrs. Hazen's reputation and a scandal involving a Washington, DC home purchased by subscription for Dewey led to her villification and a decline in his popularity (see Ronald Spector, "Admiral of the New Empire, The Life and Career of George Dewey": University of South Carolina Press, 1988).