Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Santa
Medium: Watercolor or gouache and silver leaf on artist's board
Date: ca. 1918
Dimensions:
14 in. (35.6 cm.) diameter
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.558
Research Number: NCW: 2301
InscribedPainted below image over silver leaf: "Merry Xmas"; written in ballpoint pen on brown paper dustcover (not NCW's hand): "Painted by N. C. Wyeth - Dec. 20 1918" (date is underlined)
ProvenanceN. C. Wyeth; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), O.6, p. 834
Curatorial RemarksAccording to recollections of the artist's grandson Denys McCoy (b. 1938), this Santa always hung below the mantle shelf in the living room at Christmas; he remembers it actually hanging below the fire screen, into the fireplace. Its appearance has altered signficantly as the silver tarnished and the paper discolored.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from art work
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer