Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Deerslayer, title page illustration
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1925
Dimensions:
42 1/8 × 32 in. (107 × 81.3 cm)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.26
Research Number: NCW: 946
InscribedOn top stretcher bar in red pencil: 11827 / (in black) 5; in red pencil running vertically down left stretcher bar, an arrow, interrupted by: 7 1/2
ProvenanceThe artist (with Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, until Oct. 1927); Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 1; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 201; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.994, p. 476
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the copy of the edition Wyeth read in preparation for this commission (NCWS.95.189). This painting is listed as "sold" in a 1950 inventory of paintings in Wyeth's studio, possibly in error. It is also listed in 1990 studio inventory. There is a line of tack holes just above the top of the "parchment" and a horizontal crease several inches below (into "parchment") which might indicate that artist needed to adjust the space between the top of the landscape view and the top of the painting.
In an article for The English Journal, Ruth Teuscher noted that Wyeth's illustrations for some of the classics "have great pictorial beauty aside from their value as illustrations." A footnote included the information that original paintings for The Deerslayer could be purchased from the artist through Scribner's for "about $500." (Ruth Teuscher, "Illustrated Books for Boys and Girls," The English Journal, vol. XVI, no. 8 (Oct. 1927), p. 608-609 ).
In an article for The English Journal, Ruth Teuscher noted that Wyeth's illustrations for some of the classics "have great pictorial beauty aside from their value as illustrations." A footnote included the information that original paintings for The Deerslayer could be purchased from the artist through Scribner's for "about $500." (Ruth Teuscher, "Illustrated Books for Boys and Girls," The English Journal, vol. XVI, no. 8 (Oct. 1927), p. 608-609 ).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting