Along the Brandywine (He never caught a thing and he ruined Jon's reputation as a fisherman)

Along the Brandywine appeared as the frontispiece for John Luther Long's 1913 volume War, or, What Happens When One Loves One's Enemy with the caption "He never caught a thing and he ruined Jon's reputation as a fisherman." In addition to Along the Brandywine Wyeth executed other paintings during the winter of 1912-13 that were to appear as illustrations in the same book. At this time Wyeth was living in Needham, Massachusetts and working in his studio called the "Tank House."

During this highly productive period of the early 1910s Wyeth was engaged in projects that would become classics in American illustration. Among these were Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island of 1911 and Kidnapped of 1913, both published by the distinguished publishing house Charles Scribner's Sons of New York. Wyeth's outstanding contributions to these publications earned him a place among the leading illustrators of the day.

N.C. Wyeth referred to the paintings executed for War, or, What Happens When One Loves One's Enemy in a letter of May 15, 1914 in which he recalled fondly the time he spent in Needham while painting the works. (B.J. Wyeth, The Wyeths: The Letters of N.C. Wyeth, 1901-1945, Boston, 1971, p. 462)

This painting is included in the N.C. Wyeth catalogue raisonné database that is being compiled by the Brandywine River Museum and Conservancy, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.