David Balfour, title page illustration

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

David Balfour, title page illustration

Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1924
Dimensions:
25 1/4 × 34 1/4 in. (64.1 × 87 cm)
Private collection, Greenville, DE
Accession number: SUPP2000.1026
Research Number: NCW: 1026
InscribedLower left: W (two dots underneath "W" points); verso on stretcher: upper left in pencil: CAROL (underlined, rest of inscription obstructed by backing board); lower right: WiLM. D (rest of inscription obstructed by backing board)
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; (Richard Layton, Wilmington, DE); Robert V. Behr, 1965 - ca. 1981; (Richard Layton, ca. 1981);
Exhibition HistoryHarrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 18; Rockland, ME, 1966, no. 61; Wilmington, DE, 1968, no. 6
References Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 19; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 219; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.968, p. 467
Curatorial RemarksIt is likely that this painting has been cut down and was orignally of vertical orientation, with the same proportions as the book page. Although the painting occurs in a 1951 inventory of work in the artist's studio, the particular notation does not include dimensions, making it hard to determine when and by whom the painting was altered.
The artist's library includes Scribner's 1905 unillustrated edition of the story (NCWS.95.203) which Wyeth read and marked in preparation for the commission.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 3/2005