Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Battle at Glens Falls Each of the combatants threw all his energies into that effort, and the result was, that both tottered on the brink of the precipice
Alternate Title(s):The Battle at Glen Falls
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1919
Dimensions:
40 1/8 × 32 in. (101.9 × 81.3 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Russell G. Colt, 1986
Accession number: 86.7.1
Label Copy:
In preparation for this commission, the artist read and marked an edition of The Last of the Mohicans published by A. L. Burt (Brandywine River Museum of Art, NCWS.95.4334). He also made a short trip to upstate New York where the tale is set. In a letter to his wife dated Feb. 22, 1919, Wyeth told of a visit he made to the exact spot described by Cooper: "It was indeed thrilling to follow Cooper's detailed topography...to stand on the very dome of rock where Major Heyward fought the hand to hand battle with knives with the Huron warrior. As I looked into the boiling water below, I could almost imagine the tossing figure of the blood covered Indian who had plunged off the crag (sic) with Heyward's knife sheathed in his heart" (Wyeth Family Archives).
In addition to photographs Wyeth took of the locale, he also may have used stereoscope cards as image resources--6 cards depicting scenery in Glens Falls were found in his studio, including one of the "water galleries near Dual Gorge."
In preparation for this commission, the artist read and marked an edition of The Last of the Mohicans published by A. L. Burt (Brandywine River Museum of Art, NCWS.95.4334). He also made a short trip to upstate New York where the tale is set. In a letter to his wife dated Feb. 22, 1919, Wyeth told of a visit he made to the exact spot described by Cooper: "It was indeed thrilling to follow Cooper's detailed topography...to stand on the very dome of rock where Major Heyward fought the hand to hand battle with knives with the Huron warrior. As I looked into the boiling water below, I could almost imagine the tossing figure of the blood covered Indian who had plunged off the crag (sic) with Heyward's knife sheathed in his heart" (Wyeth Family Archives).
In addition to photographs Wyeth took of the locale, he also may have used stereoscope cards as image resources--6 cards depicting scenery in Glens Falls were found in his studio, including one of the "water galleries near Dual Gorge."
Research Number: NCW: 96
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY (B15673); sold to Mr. Russell G. Colt, New York, NY, Jan. 1920; Mrs. Russell G. Colt to 1986
Exhibition HistoryHarrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 68; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 20; Easton, MD, Academy of the Arts, "America's Storytellers: N. C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle", Dec. 2, 1999 - Jan. 22, 2000; Kalamazoo, MI, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, "The Wyeths, America's Artists," Jan. 15-April 17, 2011; Doylestown, PA, James A. Michener Art Museum, 1/20/- 5/6/2018 (and Roswell, NM, Roswell Museum and Art Center, 6/15 - 9/16/2018), "Magical & Real, Henriette Wyeth and Peter Hurd," checklist, vol. 2, p. 98, as "The Battle of Glen Falls"
References
Anton Kamp, "N. C. Wyeth, Painter and Illustrator," The Artgum Magazine, vol. IV, no. 4 (April 1926), illus. b/w p. 17; _____,"The Stouthearted Heroes of a Beloved Painter," Life Magazine, vol. 43, no. 24 (December 9, 1957), illus. in color p. 100; Henry C. Pitz, "N. C. Wyeth," American Heritage Magazine, vol. XVI, no. 6 (Oct. 1965), p. 43; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 202, illus. p. 98; Walt and Roger Reed, The Illustrator in America, 1880-1980 (New York: Madison Square Press, Inc., 1984), illus. in color p. 78; Brandywine River Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, 1969-1989 (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine Conservancy, 1991), p. 210, illus. b/w p. 202; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), illus. in color after p. 244; Erin R. Corrales-Diaz, "The Indian In His Solitude, N. C. Wyeth's Images of Native Americans," Nineteenth Century, Magazine of the Victorian Society in America, vol. 28, no. 2 (Fall 2008), p. 12, as "The Battle at Glen Falls"; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.750, p. 382
Curatorial RemarksIn preparation for this commission, the artist read and marked an edition published by A. L. Burt (Brandywine River Museum of Art, NCWS.95.4334). In a letter to his wife dated Feb. 22, 1919, Wyeth described a visit he made to the exact spot described by Cooper: "It was indeed thrilling to follow Cooper's detailed topography...to stand on the very dome of rock where Major Heyward fought the hand to hand battle with knives with the Huron warrior. As I looked into the boiling water below I could almost imagine the tossing figure of the blood covered Indian who had plunged off the crag (sic) with Heyward's knife sheathed in his heart" (Wyeth Family Archives).
In addition to photographs Wyeth took of the locale, he also may have used stereoption cards as image resources--6 cards depicting scenery in Glens Falls were found in his studio, including one of the "water galleries near Dual Gorge."
In addition to photographs Wyeth took of the locale, he also may have used stereoption cards as image resources--6 cards depicting scenery in Glens Falls were found in his studio, including one of the "water galleries near Dual Gorge."
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting