Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
David Balfour, cover illustration
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1924
Dimensions:
21 7/8 × 22 in. (55.6 × 55.9 cm)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Halle, 1972
Accession number: 72.1
Copyright: © artist, artist's estate, or other rights holders
Research Number: NCW: 49
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH; on verso of stretcher, bottom bar: 91990 Halle-S / Cl & Var / 202B/108 Blume / Return excess canvas; stretcher stamped 23 ANCOBILT / Glendale, N. Y. ; formerly attached to frame and now taped to dustbacking, 2 labels: 1645 FRAME; 1645 PICTURE;
ProvenanceThe artist; Halle Brothers Company, Cleveland, OH, 1924; Mr. and Mrs. Walter Halle, Willoughby, OH
Exhibition HistoryRockland, ME, 1966, no. 60; Brookings, SD, 1973, no. 25; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(1), illus. b/w on cover of exhibition brochure; Ligonier, PA, Westmoreland County Art Association, "Ligonier Valley Bicentennial Art Show," July 19 - Aug. 6, 1976; San Mateo, CA, La Galeria, "The Wyeths," April 30 - June 16, 1978; New York, NY, Grand Central Art Galleries, "American Illustrators: The Twenties, Adventure, Suspense, Romance and Humor," May 8 - 25, 1979, no. 85 p. 9; Wilmington, DE, 1981; Woodbridge, NJ, Barron Arts Center, "A Thousand Words," Jan. 7- Feb. 28, 1983; Chadds Ford, PA, 1990(1); Rockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Every Picture Tells a Story," April 27-Dec. 30, 2013;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 219; Brandywine River Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, 1969-1989 (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine Conservancy, 1991), p. 214, b/w illustration p. 207; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.966, p. 467; Robert Louis Stevenson, David Balfour, Memoirs of His Adventures at Home and Abroad, edited by Barry Menikoff, San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Press, 2016, plate no. 3;
Curatorial RemarksPrinter's proofs show that this painting was originally in the same vertical format as the other illustrations for David Balfour. The canvas had space at the top for the titile block, and at the bottom for Wyeth's name. The artist's library includes Scribner's 1905 unillustrated edition of the story (NCWS.95.203) which Wyeth read and marked in preparation for the commission.
A card in a Scribner's card file (Brandywine River Museum of Art, Annenberg Research Center) indicates that this painting was "lost" enroute to be shown at and possibly sold by Halle Brothers, a Cleveland department store. Recovered, the painting became the property of the Halle family.
A card in a Scribner's card file (Brandywine River Museum of Art, Annenberg Research Center) indicates that this painting was "lost" enroute to be shown at and possibly sold by Halle Brothers, a Cleveland department store. Recovered, the painting became the property of the Halle family.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:2. Printer's proof, showing vertical format of original canvas (Library, Brandywine River Museum)