Artist:
attributed to N. C. Wyeth
Portrait of Charles L. Patterson
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1927
Dimensions:
30 1/8 x 25 1/8 in. (76.5 x 63.8 cm)
Private Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1144
Research Number: NCW: 1144
InscribedPainting came to light in 2022, in frame with frame plate: CHARLES L. PATTERSON / b. DEC. 25th 1855 D. AUG. 19th 1930; label on verso of top frame member: ROYAL ART FRAMING / CO., Inc. N.Y.C. / Tel. Circle 7-4115; on top stretcher bar, partial label: FROM / (missing line) / (missing) 20 Walnut Street / Philadelphia, Pa. / (bottom line missing)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1928(1), no. 28
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.30, p. 812
Curatorial RemarksCharles Loeser Patterson (1855-1930) was a Vice President of the du Pont Company. His summer residence was at Fair Hill Farm in Chadds Ford, PA, where he died on August 19, 1930. (See obituary, The Delmarva Star [Wilmington, DE], August 24, 1930, p. 10). Survivors noted in the obituary were Patterson's widow, Cornelia McCune Patterson (1863-1946), her brother Major E. C. McCune, and the Pattersons's daughter, Elizabeth McCune Patterson (1898-1969). Elizabeth married David Van Pelt (1887-1972). The Van Pelts had one son, whom they named after the boy's maternal grandfather. Charles Patterson Van Pelt (1933-1952) died tragically at age 19 and his parents funded several institutions at the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in his memory.
The painting was conserved by Joyce Hill Stoner in 2023. Stoner wrote that the materials and brush handling were not inconsistent with N. C. Wyeth's practices; the foundation for certain areas of the painting, for example, was created by a gentle rubbing of wet paint into the canvas weave, a technique favored by Wyeth. Wyeth completed at least two more similarly staid, "corporate" paintings, Portrait of Josiah Marvel of 1926 (NCW 1166) and Portrait of Philip Burnet of 1932 (NCW 691).
The painting was conserved by Joyce Hill Stoner in 2023. Stoner wrote that the materials and brush handling were not inconsistent with N. C. Wyeth's practices; the foundation for certain areas of the painting, for example, was created by a gentle rubbing of wet paint into the canvas weave, a technique favored by Wyeth. Wyeth completed at least two more similarly staid, "corporate" paintings, Portrait of Josiah Marvel of 1926 (NCW 1166) and Portrait of Philip Burnet of 1932 (NCW 691).