Newborn Calf, study for

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

Newborn Calf, study for

Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1916
Dimensions:
25 × 30 in. (63.5 × 76.2 cm)
Daniel W. Dietrich, II
Accession number: SUPP2000.28
Research Number: NCW: 28
Inscribedon reverse, 2" fragment of handwritten label: (missing) son of Hag (missing) / ...C.(torn) Wye (missing); written on top stretcher member 4324-3-1 / 1/2 2 10 / Collier
ProvenanceWyeth family to at least 1967
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, 1971, no. 73, illus. b/w p. 58
References Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.114, p. 735
Curatorial Remarks"The biggest part of the past two weeks has been spent composing my next painting subject. I shall call it "The New-born Calf." Moonlight scene of a cow yard (our old barn across the valley) several cows lying down in and out the dark shadows under the barn. White plaster piers glowing in the greenish light and in the middle fore-ground an old white cow lapping her new born calf. My opinion is that after at least 25 composition sketches, I've struck an unusually powerful motive" (NCW to Andrew Newell Wyeth, Nov. 17, 1916, Wyeth Family Archives).
Wyeth reused a canvas for this study. Although the study is thinly painted, shapes visible in the design confirm the information on the label fragment; the image underneath (rotated 180 degrees) is NCW 1613, a vignette for Collier's painted in 1912.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 9/29/2006