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N. C. Wyeth became one of America’s foremost
illustrators, especially renowned for his images which accompanied
some of the most popular novels of all time, including Kidnapped,
The Black Arrow, Robin Hood, The Last of the Mohicans, Westward
Ho, Robinson Crusoe, The Deerslayer, and many, many more. Anthony
and Mr. Bonnyfeather is an image used as the frontispiece of
Vol. I of the Farrer & Rinehart, Inc. 1934 edition of the
novel Anthony Adverse by author Hervey Allen. Although somewhat
forgotten today, the novel was in its time hugely popular, so much
so that Hollywood made it into a blockbuster movie in 1936,
starring Frederick March, Olivia de Havilland, Edmund Gwenn,
Claude Rains, Akim Tamiroff, and Ralph Morgan. Allen’s story,
which runs more than 1200 pages, takes place in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries, and has endless twists and turns of fate as
it follows a peripatetic soldier of fortune from birth to the
grave, and throughout Europe and North America. Here Anthony is
seen with his maternal grandfather, Mr. Bonnyfeather, upon the
ramparts of Casa da Bonnyfeather in Leghorn, Italy, hoisting an
unseen flag of England. Beyond its interest as a depiction of an
episode from Anthony’s life, and as a fine example of the artist’s
artistic talents, the painting has added meaning, as it is likely
that the model for the figure of Anthony is none other than N.C.'s
son, Andrew Wyeth. |
