Image Not Available
Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Portrait of Richard Ellis Cochran Bockius
Date: ca. 1918
Dimensions:
dimensions unavailable
known by letter and oral history only
Accession number: SUPP2000.1710
Research Number: NCW: 1710
ProvenanceGift to Richard E. C. Bockius from the artist
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 585; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.20, p. 806
Curatorial RemarksRichard Ellis Cochran Bockius (1892? -1949) was a brother of Carolyn Bockius Wyeth. After relating some of Bockius's war time experiences as a naval officer, NCW wrote "He's...full of vim and developing into a phenomenal character. He is unusually striking to look at, and this morning I made a portrait sketch of him which turned out quite well" (NCW to Sidney M. Chase, April 22, 1918, Wyeth Family Archives). According to David Michaelis, Bockius was the model for Wyeth's depiction of Captain Harding in The Mysterious Island (David Michaelis, p. 263).
William L. Bockius, son of the sitter, remembered the work as a bust-length portrait of a man wearing a hat and smoking a cigarette. No archival photographs have come to light. A remark on this portrait is contained in a letter from Carolyn Bockius Wyeth (possibly to HZW) dated Aug. 14, 1923 (WFA).
William L. Bockius, son of the sitter, remembered the work as a bust-length portrait of a man wearing a hat and smoking a cigarette. No archival photographs have come to light. A remark on this portrait is contained in a letter from Carolyn Bockius Wyeth (possibly to HZW) dated Aug. 14, 1923 (WFA).