Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
And putting their mouths to the level of a starry pool, they drank their fill
Alternate Title(s):The Starry Pool
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
40 1/4 × 32 1/4 in. (102.2 × 81.9 cm)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Anonymous gift, 1981
Accession number: 81.13
Label Copy:
Stevenson’s tale of murder and romance is set in 15th century England. The hero, Dick Shelton (depicted on the right), and heroine Joanna Sedley, disguised as John Matcham, drink from a pool in a clearing as they make their way through Tunstall Forest. Dick carries news of an uprising to his guardian Sir Daniel Brackley, while Joanna hopes to escape the marriage Brackley has arranged for her.
For a commission such as The Black Arrow, Wyeth would begin by reading the story in an earlier edition; in this case, an unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition in which he made notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (Brandywine Museum of Art, NCWS.95.163). He would continue with in-depth research. For the Black Arrow pictures, he wrote to his mother, "I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming book." That was only a part of his creative process, however. As he gathered facts, he wove them with impulses from his own imagination. The resulting mindset caught him up, sometimes overwhelmed him, and yielded the lush, romantic images he produced on canvas. "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down," he wrote, "into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes, and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats...". (Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945. Boston: Gambit, 1971, p. 522)
Stevenson’s tale of murder and romance is set in 15th century England. The hero, Dick Shelton (depicted on the right), and heroine Joanna Sedley, disguised as John Matcham, drink from a pool in a clearing as they make their way through Tunstall Forest. Dick carries news of an uprising to his guardian Sir Daniel Brackley, while Joanna hopes to escape the marriage Brackley has arranged for her.
For a commission such as The Black Arrow, Wyeth would begin by reading the story in an earlier edition; in this case, an unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition in which he made notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (Brandywine Museum of Art, NCWS.95.163). He would continue with in-depth research. For the Black Arrow pictures, he wrote to his mother, "I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming book." That was only a part of his creative process, however. As he gathered facts, he wove them with impulses from his own imagination. The resulting mindset caught him up, sometimes overwhelmed him, and yielded the lush, romantic images he produced on canvas. "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down," he wrote, "into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes, and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats...". (Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945. Boston: Gambit, 1971, p. 522)
Research Number: NCW: 403
InscribedUpper left: N. C. WYETH; on top stretcher, a partial Scribner's Magazine label: From / Scribner's Magazine / Fifth Ave. & 48th Street / New York; also adhered to top stretcher, illegible remnants of second label
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY, to at least 1927; (with La Galeria, San Mateo, CA, 1977); Private collection, Baltimore, MD; (Barridoff Galleries, Portland, ME, April 4, 1981, lot no. 47, as "Starry Pool" and purchased by anonymous donor for Brandywine River Museum of Art
Exhibition HistorySan Mateo, CA, La Galeria, "Wyeth / N. C. Andrew James," May 1 - June 16, 1977; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(1), checklist p. 27; 1987; Chadds Ford, PA, 1990(1); Akron, OH, Akron Museum of Art, June 15 - Sept. 1, 2002, and Lawrence, KS, Spencer Museum of Art, Sept. 21 - Nov. 17, 2002, "N. C. Wyeth from the Brandywine River Museum Collection"; Rockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Every Picture Tells a Story," April 27-Dec. 30, 2013; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, "Enchanted Castles and Noble Knights," Nov. 28, 2014-Jan. 4, 2015
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219; Brandywine River Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, 1969-1989 (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine Conservancy. 1991), ps. 196 and 206, illus. b/w p. 198; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.610, p. 324; Alexander Nemerov, "The Gillter of Night Hauling, Andrew Wyeth in the 1940s," The Magazine Antiques (May/June 2012), ps. 150-151, illus. p. 150; Andrew Nemerov, "The Glitter of Night Hauling, Andrew Wyeth in the 1940s," in Wyeth Vertigo, Shelburne, Vermont; Shelburne Museum, 2013, p. 74, 94 (det.); Alexander Nemerov, "The Glitter of Night Hauling: Andrw Wyeth in the 1940s," published in Rethinking Andrew Wyeth, edited by David Cateforis, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2014, illus. p.105;
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum of Art, N. C. Wyeth House and Studio Collection, holds the unillustrated 1915 Scribner's edition of The Black Arrow which the artist read to prepare for this commission, with notes on the endsheets and markings throughout (NCWS.95.163).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to Andrew N. Wyeth, 2/26/1916, Wyeth Family Archives). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
"I spent some of the time in the [New York Public] library looking up medieval data concerning my forthcoming books...." (NCW to Andrew N. Wyeth, 2/26/1916, Wyeth Family Archives). The artist wrote to his mother in early March 1916, "The medieval period is gradually drawing me down into its tremendous confusion of customs, costumes and its singular spirit. I feel all pent up with the crowding impressions of an age rich in picturesqueness but black with infamy. The history of those times is after all rather suffocating...my head is clogged with long-bows, spears, salets, doublets, mail, quarter-staffs, jousting bouts, ferries, skerries, and moats..." (WFA).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Peter Ralston, www.pralston.com