Nat

Watercolor on paper

1988

19 3/4 × 21 3/8 in. (50.2 × 54.3 cm)

94.15

Gift of Jean Wyeth in memory of Nathaniel C. Wyeth, 1994

Not on view

In this sensitive portrait of his older brother, Andrew Wyeth depicts a man deep in thought. A highly esteemed inventor and engineer for the DuPont company for forty years, Nathaniel (1911-1990) was originally named after his father Newell Convers Wyeth. However, the young boy’s fascination with mechanical objects led N. C. Wyeth to rename him after an uncle who was himself an engineer. A resident of Chadds Ford, Nathaniel Wyeth’s most significant achievement at DuPont was his creation of a plastic bottle strong enough to withstand the pressure of carbonated liquids.