Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Pike County Ballads, tailpiece (child with lambs)
Alternate Title(s):Young girl with lambs; Untitled (Child with lambs)
Medium: Ink on artist's board
Date: 1912
Dimensions:
12 × 14 1/2 in. (30.5 × 36.8 cm)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Purchased with funds given in memory of Jonathan Meyer, 1990
Accession number: 90.3.3
Research Number: NCW: 457
Provenance(Christie's East, New York, NY, Jan. 24, 1990, lot no. 262)
Exhibition HistoryChicago, IL, 1997, no. 7; Easton, MD, Academy of the Arts, "America's Storytellers: N. C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle", Dec. 2, 1999 - Jan. 22, 2000
Curatorial RemarksSince it was unusual for the artist to do preliminary studies for paintings in pen and ink on this scale, it is possible that original publication plans included head- and tailpiece subjects rendered in pen and ink. A change in the program must have occurred by March 13, 1912, when Wyeth wrote to his mother that he had 8 large and 30 small "pictures" to do for the Pike County commission, not 8 large pictures and 30 pen and inks, which would have represented a very different outlay in time and effort (Wyeth Family Archives). See NCW 902 (Brandywine River Museum, 96.1.7) for published tailpiece in this design.
The Brandywine River Museum holds an unmarked copy of "Poems by John Hay," which includes "The Pike County Ballads," published by Houghton Mifflin (1899) and found in the artist's studio (NCWS.95.723).
The Brandywine River Museum holds an unmarked copy of "Poems by John Hay," which includes "The Pike County Ballads," published by Houghton Mifflin (1899) and found in the artist's studio (NCWS.95.723).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Photography directly from drawing
Photo Credit:Brandywine River Museum photography files