Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Going To Church
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1941
Dimensions:
108 × 144 in. (274.3 × 365.8 cm)
Collection of MetLife, New York
Accession number: SUPP2000.452
Research Number: NCW: 452
ProvenanceCommissioned from NCW by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1985, no. 7
References
"The Days of the Pilgrims Live Again in Our Murals," The Home Office (publication of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.), vol. 23, no. 7 (Dec. 1941), ps. 8-9; N. C. Wyeth, Income Tax Notes for 1941 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum Library); Gene Byrnes, A Complete Guide to Drawing, Illustration, Cartooning, and Painting (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1948), p. 328 (photograph of mural partially complete); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), ps. 169-172; Robert San Souci, N. C. Wyeth's Pilgrims (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1991), color illustration (unpaginated); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.73, p. 632
Curatorial RemarksThere are two archival photographs of this mural which show its original configuration as conceived for the specific architectural location. One shows the seemingly completed canvas hanging in the Chadds Ford mural studio; the other photograph, trimmed to just the image area, shows the two doorways around which the image was designed delineated in double dark lines. The second photograph is stamped: EDW. J. S. SEAL / CHADDS FORD, PA. / APR -8 1941. (Brandywine River Museum library, #3271). The Brandywine River Museum holds a composition drawing showing the placement of the architectural elements (96.1.547); an outline of the composition on tracing tissue from which lantern slides were made (96.1.82); and extensive correspondence between the artist and the architect Arthur O. Angilly which touches on all phases of the commission.
In the mid-1980s, the MetLife murals were removed from the walls of their original location at One Madison Avenue, New York, and placed on strainers. MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
The subject was famously treated in the 19th century by George Henry Boughton, whose painting "Pilgrims Going to Church"was displayed at both the New York Public Library and the New York Historical Society. It's likely Wyeth would have known the work.
In the mid-1980s, the MetLife murals were removed from the walls of their original location at One Madison Avenue, New York, and placed on strainers. MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
The subject was famously treated in the 19th century by George Henry Boughton, whose painting "Pilgrims Going to Church"was displayed at both the New York Public Library and the New York Historical Society. It's likely Wyeth would have known the work.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting; 2. Archival photograph, Brandywine River Museum library, Edward J. S. Seal Collection.
Photo Credit:1. Photo by: Malcolm Varon, NYC, copyright © 2007; 2. Painting hanging in Wyeth's mural studio, Chadds Ford. Photograph by Edward J. S. Seal