Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Title unknown (Christmas scene at the Holly Tree Tavern), composition study
Medium: Gouache on paper
Date: ca. 1929
Dimensions:
23 7/8 × 60 in. (60.6 × 152.4 cm)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.528
Research Number: NCW: 2063
InscribedAt lower right, in image in ink: COPYRIGHT BY INTERWOVEN STOCKING CO.; lower left, in image in pencil: SKETCH BY N. C. Wyeth (name underlined); other marks along bottom of sheet from left to right: Canvas [illegible] STRETCHER 29 X 71N / NEEDS / [loss] / How about red shirt on boy? / / Too stiff / needs all "action" (action underlined) can / get / also how about a dog (loss) near boy / / Put more / red in holly wreath / in window + over the / door // Leave tavern sign / blank (underlined) for time being / until we find a name // [loss] of box picture / 58 3/4 x 16 7/8"; image is surrounded with measurements and computations in border.
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.68, p. 660
Curatorial RemarksThere are considerable differences between this version and the final version of this advertising image. Most of the suggestions written in the margins of the composition study, probably not in the artist's hand, were incorporated into the oil on canvas version, including a change in the name of the tavern, from Liberty to Holly Tree.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 2/2006