Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
A Maine Sea Captain's Daughter
Alternate Title(s):Portrait of Jane Nason Tibbets
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1937
Dimensions:
29 1/2 × 22 3/4 in. (74.9 × 57.8 cm)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1225
Research Number: NCW: 1225
InscribedUpper left: (scratched into ground): N. C. WYETH; Renaissance Panel label adhered to reverse, #588, prepared on 9/24/(19)37; painted on verso of panel: DO NOT VARNISH / OR VASELINE THIS PANEL / N. C. W
ProvenanceThe artist; gift to Kenneth Roberts, 1938; Sherwood Rollins, and descended in family; (Skinner, Inc., Boston, MA, Sept. 25, 1998, lot no. 475); (Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE, 1998); MBNA America, Wilmington, DE, through 2005
Exhibition HistoryPortland, ME, 1938; Rockland, ME, 1999, illustration in color p. 15; Portland, OR, Portland Museum of Art, "The Wyeths: Three Generations, Works form the Bank of America Collection," Oct. 7, 2017-Jan. 28, 2018;
References
Kenneth Roberts Papers, Dartmouth College Library, N. C. Wyeth to Kenneth Roberts, Sept. 7, 1937 and Dec. 22, 1937; Yankee Magazine, (Aug. 1938), cover illustraiton in b/w; Marjorie Mosser, Foods of Old New England (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1957), book jacket illustration in color; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 216, illustration in b/w p. 175; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1225, p. 556, 557
Curatorial RemarksOn the "Illustrations" page of Trending Into Maine, the following is printed about this painting: "Based on a portrait, painted in 1842 by an unknown artist, of Jane Nason, youngest daughter of Captain Daniel Nason, when she was twenty-one." The 1842 portrait of Jane Nason (1829-1897) is owned by the Brick Store Museum, Kennebunk, Maine, gift of Marjorie Ellis, Kenneth Roberts's niece. Roberts supplied the artist with a photograph of the painting, from which N. C. Wyeth had a lantern slide made (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1825.272). Wyeth then projected the slide onto the panel to transfer the image. A composition drawing and two hand studies for this painting are extant. A small teapot with bamboo designs found in the NCW studio (NCWS.95.1507) resembles the one pictured.
The artist offered this painting to Kenneth Roberts--"The one of your grandmother as a young girl came out with considerable charm and if it appeals to you it is the original I wish to give you" (NCW to KR, Dec. 22, 1937, Courtesy of Dartmouth College Library). Roberts had the white margins trimmed off (Kenneth Roberts to NCW, Dec. 30, 1938, Wyeth Family Archives) and later gave the painting to his early benefactor Sherwood Rollins.;December 30, 1938, Roberts wrote to N. C. Wyeth, "You bet I got the portrait of my grandmother, and took enormous pride in it. You were extremely generous to let me have it, and I deeply appreciate your kindness and thoughtfulness. I've loaned it to my mother till we get into the new house, and it hangs in the Boston room, where it arouses the admiration and envy of all callers. I had the white margin trimmed off, and--after considerable consulting with the experts at the Copley Frame Shop in Boston--a silver and black frame put on and it looks grand. I'd like very much to take advantage of your kind offer to varnish and wax, and shall do so when you return from Florida.... (Wyeth Family Archives)
The artist offered this painting to Kenneth Roberts--"The one of your grandmother as a young girl came out with considerable charm and if it appeals to you it is the original I wish to give you" (NCW to KR, Dec. 22, 1937, Courtesy of Dartmouth College Library). Roberts had the white margins trimmed off (Kenneth Roberts to NCW, Dec. 30, 1938, Wyeth Family Archives) and later gave the painting to his early benefactor Sherwood Rollins.;December 30, 1938, Roberts wrote to N. C. Wyeth, "You bet I got the portrait of my grandmother, and took enormous pride in it. You were extremely generous to let me have it, and I deeply appreciate your kindness and thoughtfulness. I've loaned it to my mother till we get into the new house, and it hangs in the Boston room, where it arouses the admiration and envy of all callers. I had the white margin trimmed off, and--after considerable consulting with the experts at the Copley Frame Shop in Boston--a silver and black frame put on and it looks grand. I'd like very much to take advantage of your kind offer to varnish and wax, and shall do so when you return from Florida.... (Wyeth Family Archives)
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting; 2. Image from a lantern slide found in the artist's studio, of an unattributed portrait of Jane Nason. The lantern slide was made from a black and white photograph sent to the artist by Kenneth Roberts.
Photo Credit:1. Photo by Rick Echelmeyer; 2. BRM staff