Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Sitter:
John Denys Zirngiebel
Portrait of John Denys Zirngiebel
Medium: Oil on heavy cardboard
Date: 1906
Dimensions:
4 11/16 × 3 1/2 in. (11.9 × 8.9 cm)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.52
Research Number: NCW: 2097
InscribedLower right: N.C.W. (underlined) / 1906
ProvenanceThe artist to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, Christmas 1906; descended in Wyeth family; Carolyn Wyeth
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.5, p. 800
Curatorial RemarksJohn Denys Zirngiebel, the artist's maternal grandfather, died in 1905. In 1906, Wyeth painted this portrait of him from a photograph, and presented it, along with a portrait of his maternal grandmother, to his mother for Christmas that year (NCW to "Dear Everybody," and dated in another hand Dec. 17, 1906, Wyeth Family Archives). The pair of portraits was returned to Chadds Ford sometime after the elder Mrs. Wyeth's death in 1925 and for years sat on the mantle piece in the living room of the Wyeth home. It is readily recognizable in Andrew Wyeth's "Before Six," a view of the living room (reproduced in Martha Severens, "Andrew Wyeth, America's Painter, New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996, no. 6).
NCWS.2246.268 is probably a preparatory drawing for the portrait.
NCWS.2246.268 is probably a preparatory drawing for the portrait.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 1/2005