Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Lost Sheep
Alternate Title(s):Parable of the Lost Sheep; The Lost Lamb; The Lost Sheep
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1926
Dimensions:
45 × 40 in. (114.3 × 101.6 cm)
Colby College Museum of Art,
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Charles D. Childs, 1963.066
Accession number: SUPP2000.884
Research Number: NCW: 884
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceHeirs of Robert Winsor; (Vose Galleries, Boston, MA, 1957-1962); (Childs Gallery, Boston, MA, 1963)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1930(1), no. 9, as "The Lost Sheep"; possibly Scribner's, New York, NY, April, 1931 (see curatorial comment); Wilmington, DE, 1946, no. 62 as "Parable of the Lost Sheep"; Boston, MA, Vose Galleries, Dec. 1957; Waterville, ME, Colby College Art Museum, "Acquisitions, 1959-1963," Oct. 5- ?, 1963, p. 18 as "The Lost Lamb"; Stamford, CT, Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Inc., March - April 1970; Port Washington Public Library, Port Washington, NY, "100 Years of American Art," Jan. 2 - Feb. 29, 1992); Waterville, Maine, Colby College Museum of Art, Art at Colby: Celebraing the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Colby College Museum of Art, July 11, 2009 - Feb. 21, 2010;
References
"Memorial Exhibit of Wyeth Art Works to Open Tuesday," (Wilmington) Journal Every Evening, Jan. 7, 1946, p. B3; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), illus. b/w p. 77; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1035, p. 491; Art at Colby: Celebrating the Fifiteth Anniversary of the Colby College Museum of Art (Waterville, Maine: Colby College, 2009), p. 212, 213
Curatorial RemarksA selection of paintings from The Parables must have been shown in New York in the spring of 1931, for in "Art that is now being shown in various New York galleries," Times writer Ruth Green Harris noted "N. C. Wyeth, at Scribner's, shows paintings, many of which illustrate Old Testament scenes." (NYT, April 12, 1931; ProQuest Historical Newspapers, pg. X10).;The original intention for the Parable series was never realized. Wyeth wrote to Sidney M. Chase in Oct. 1922, "Have just signed a contract to do the Parables for Robert Winsor of Boston. It's a big chance and a big proposition. A mighty interesting scheme throughout. Taft (William Howard) is to write the forward and the imprint will be the University Press in Cambridge. 50,000 copies, first editions, etc." (Wyeth Family Archives, NCW to Sidney M. Chase, Oct. 16, 1922). Robert Winsor (1858-1930) was a Boston investment banker and supporter of the Unitarian Universalist Church.
No known archival material clearly explains the ownership of the 12 Parable paintings and Andrew Wyeth has confirmed the confusion. Apparently, each picture was jointly owned by Robert Winsor and N. C. Wyeth, for on May 20, 1927 the artist wrote to his father stating he owned "half interest in the originals" and expressing a desire to buy back the complete set "after (Winsor) has made full use of them" (NCW to Andrew Newell Wyeth, May 20, 1927, Wyeth Family Archives). Just before Winsor died in January 1930, Wyeth obtained all 12 in order to reproduce them in some way (NCW to Roger L. Scaife, Jan. 8, 1930, Houghton Mifflin Archives, Houghton Library, Harvard University). In 1942, the artist granted to the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention "second rights for unrestricted use" for this image, for which he was paid $50.00 (Herman F. Burns, Broadman Press of the Sunday School Board, to NCW Oct. 5, 1942, Wyeth Family Archives).
During Wyeth's memorial exhibition in Wilmington in 1946, this painting was praised in the press as "outstanding for (its) sympathetic qualities."
The BRM holds papers that list the biblical citations that inspired Wyeth and a rough copy of his text for the catalogue of the Wilmington, DE, 1930 exhibition which included the artist's remarks about each Parable painting.
No known archival material clearly explains the ownership of the 12 Parable paintings and Andrew Wyeth has confirmed the confusion. Apparently, each picture was jointly owned by Robert Winsor and N. C. Wyeth, for on May 20, 1927 the artist wrote to his father stating he owned "half interest in the originals" and expressing a desire to buy back the complete set "after (Winsor) has made full use of them" (NCW to Andrew Newell Wyeth, May 20, 1927, Wyeth Family Archives). Just before Winsor died in January 1930, Wyeth obtained all 12 in order to reproduce them in some way (NCW to Roger L. Scaife, Jan. 8, 1930, Houghton Mifflin Archives, Houghton Library, Harvard University). In 1942, the artist granted to the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention "second rights for unrestricted use" for this image, for which he was paid $50.00 (Herman F. Burns, Broadman Press of the Sunday School Board, to NCW Oct. 5, 1942, Wyeth Family Archives).
During Wyeth's memorial exhibition in Wilmington in 1946, this painting was praised in the press as "outstanding for (its) sympathetic qualities."
The BRM holds papers that list the biblical citations that inspired Wyeth and a rough copy of his text for the catalogue of the Wilmington, DE, 1930 exhibition which included the artist's remarks about each Parable painting.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Colby College Museum of Art