Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Philosopher's Stone
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1919
Dimensions:
32 1/8 × 42 3/16 in. (81.6 × 107.2 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.670
Research Number: NCW: 670
Inscribedscratched into paint surface at lower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
Provenance(?); Dr. William A. Hamor, Pittsburgh, PA, to ca. 1960; Private collection, Pittsburgh, PA; descended in family; (DC Moore Gallery, New York, New York, 2006)
References
"Twelve Advertisements," 1919 advertising brochure published by N. W. Ayer & Son (see N. W. Ayer Advertising Agency Records, 1849-2001, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, series 16, box 19); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.41, p. 650
Curatorial RemarksThe lower portion of the picture is painted in a thinner, less exacting style and was most certainly completed after the plates were made for reproduction. The printed image, which fades at the bottom vignette-style into the page with the artist's signature clearly visible in the lower right, indicates the original appearance of the painting.
Dr. William A. Hamor, the first known owner of the painting, was a chemist at the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh.
Dr. William A. Hamor, the first known owner of the painting, was a chemist at the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Richard A. Stoner, 7/2002