Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Alternate Title(s):Coronado Starts for Quivira; The plains Indians never saw horses until the appearance of Spanish explorers such as Coronado.; Coronado Searches for the Riches of the Seven Cities of Cibolo
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1938
Dimensions:
26 1/2 × 24 1/2 in. (67.3 × 62.2 cm)
Gift of John Morrell & Company. In the permanent collection,
University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Image © University Museums, Iowa State University, 2006
http://www.museums.iastate.edu
Accession number: SUPP2000.294
Research Number: NCW: 294
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); adhered to reverse, Renaissance Panel label, no.637, dated 3/18/(19)38
ProvenanceJohn Morrell & Company, Ottumwa, IA, to 1940
Exhibition HistoryOttumwa, IA, 1940; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(2); Ames, IA, Brunnier Art Museum, "N. C. Wyeth: America in the Making," Nov. 2, 2010-May 8, 2011;
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income Tax Notes for 1939 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum Library); Margaret G. Mackey, Your Country's Story (Boston: Ginn and Co., 1953), illus. in color p. 31, as "Coronado Searches for the Riches of the Seven Cities of Cibolo"; David Bonney, "The Indian and the Horse," American History Illustrated Magazine, vol. 1, no. 5 (August 1966), illus. p. 47, as "The plains Indians never saw horses until the appearance of Spanish explorers such as Coronado."; Ernest W. Watson, Forty Illustrators and How They Work (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1946), illus. p. 313; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 291, illus. b/w p. 156; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.121, p. 676
Curatorial RemarksAccording to Wyeth's income tax notes for 1939 (library, Brandywine River Museum), expenses for this painting included a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study armour. In 1941, the image, as "Coronado Starts for Quivira," was published as a post card by the Kansas Coronado Cuarto Centennial Commission. The Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide of the composition drawing for this painting (NCWS.95.1825.156); and a mounted proof, stamped on the reverse: THIS DESIGN / IS SUBMITTED BY / NIAGARA LITHO. CO. / NEW YORK / WHO RESERVE THE / EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO ITS / REPRODUCTION AND TO / WHOM IT MUST BE / RETURNED. / NO. (added in ink) 41061 (NCWS.95.6554). The painting is dated by direct reference (NCW to CBW, dated by NCW "Thurs. late afternoon" and in another hand June 15, 1938, Wyeth Family Archives). It is one of three panels for the commission completed and sent to Ketterlinus by the end of June, 1938.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:1. Iowa State University Photo Service, 11/2000; 2. Renaissance Panel label adhered to reverse of panel, courtesy of Brunnier Gallery, Iowa State University