Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945)

"At Daybreak, Mistress, in Execution of the Sentence Passed Upon Him Yesterday in the Governor's Court"

Details

Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945)
"At Daybreak, Mistress, in Execution of the Sentence Passed Upon Him Yesterday in the Governor's Court"
signed 'N.C. Wyeth' (lower right)
oil on canvas
30 ¼ x 32 in. (76.8 x 81.3 cm.)
Painted in 1929.

Provenance

The artist.
Gladys Pond Wyeth, sister-in-law of the artist.
Gretchen Wyeth Underwood, Detroit, Michigan, by descent.
By descent to the present owner.

Literature

R. Sabatini, "The Romantic Prince," McCall's, vol. 56, no. 8, May 1929, p. 27, illustrated.
D. Allen, D. Allen, Jr., N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals, New York, 1972, p. 265.
C.B. Podmaniczky, N.C. Wyeth: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, vol. 2, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 2008, p. 522, no. I.1122, illustrated.

Lot Essay

The present work, which was printed in McCall's magazine in 1929, is an illustration for the novel The Romantic Prince by the best-selling author Rafael Sabatini. The Romantic Prince was inspired by "The Night of Nuptials," a trickster tale from Lord Macaulay's famed History of England, and set in France during the reign of Louis XI. The present work illustrates a dramatic turning point in the plot. Lady Johanna's husband, unfairly accused of treason, was executed by his corrupt jailer. Unaware of this, Johanna made a great sacrifice to free her husband and, when he was released, she was shocked and furious to receive her husband's corpse.

N.C. Wyeth fully illustrated The Romantic Prince and also created the dust jacket illustration or frontispiece for four other Sabatini novels of romance and adventure.

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