Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Mr. Balfour, of the House of Shaws
What he was, whether by trade or birth, was more than I could fathom
Alternate Title(s):Ebenezer Balfour
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1913
Dimensions:
dimensions unavailable
location unknown
Accession number: SUPP2000.983
Research Number: NCW: 983
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY, to 1920; Ewing Galloway, Henderson, KY, 1920 - ?
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1914, no. 40, as "Ebenezer Balfour": San Francisco, CA, 1915, no. 57; San Francisco, CA, 1916, no. 6624; Brooklyn, NY, 1920, no. 15
References
"Fine Collection of Paintings to be Exhibited by the Wilmington Fine Arts Society," (Wilmington, DE) Every Evening, Nov. 2, 1914, p. 3, and (Wilmington, DE) Every Evening, Nov. 3, 1914, p. 9; Reader's Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers, illustrated vol. 7, p. 17 (Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, 1968); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 218; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.466, p. 269
Curatorial RemarksNotes and insertions found in Wyeth's copy of "Bonnie Scotland Painted by Sutton Palmer" by A. R. Hope Moncrieff (A. & C. Black, 1912), suggest that the artist used this book (NCWS.95.608) as a visual resource for the Kidnapped paintings.
Wyeth exhibited this painting in Wilmington in 1914 where it won the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts $100 prize for best illustration. In a review of the exhibition (Every Evening, Nov. 3, 1914), the painting was praised for "its fine insight into Scotch (sic) character." Wyeth wrote to his mother, "The judges gave me first prize for illustration again--but rather to my discomforture, owing to the fact that I got it last year too.... [But] my picture (old man Balfour in the castle room eating broth--"Kidnapped") was so emphatically the best example of illustration!" (NCW to HZW, dated in another hand Nov. 4, 1914, WFA).
The first owner, Ewing Galloway, purchased the painting the same year he opened what would become an internationally famous stock photo company.
Wyeth exhibited this painting in Wilmington in 1914 where it won the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts $100 prize for best illustration. In a review of the exhibition (Every Evening, Nov. 3, 1914), the painting was praised for "its fine insight into Scotch (sic) character." Wyeth wrote to his mother, "The judges gave me first prize for illustration again--but rather to my discomforture, owing to the fact that I got it last year too.... [But] my picture (old man Balfour in the castle room eating broth--"Kidnapped") was so emphatically the best example of illustration!" (NCW to HZW, dated in another hand Nov. 4, 1914, WFA).
The first owner, Ewing Galloway, purchased the painting the same year he opened what would become an internationally famous stock photo company.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Digital photography from printed source (Brandywine River Museum library, proof)
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 9/7/2006