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PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF LINDA L. BEAN
Lot 74
NEWELL CONVERS WYETH(1882-1945)It was, then, not a dream. This was the sign unto them. (The Nativity) 47 x 38 in. (119.4 x 96.5 cm.)
Ending from 18 November 2025, 23:59 EST
New YorkSold for US$191,000 inc. premium
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NEWELL CONVERS WYETH (1882-1945)
It was, then, not a dream. This was the sign unto them. (The Nativity)
signed 'N.C. WYETH' (lower left)
oil on canvas
47 x 38 in. (119.4 x 96.5 cm.)
Painted in 1912.
signed 'N.C. WYETH' (lower left)
oil on canvas
47 x 38 in. (119.4 x 96.5 cm.)
Painted in 1912.
Footnotes
Provenance
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Joseph Hawley Chapin, New York.
Victor H. Neirinckx, New York, 1960.
Private collection, New Jersey, 1960.
Acquired by the late owner from the above, by 2008.
Exhibited
Greenville, South Carolina, Greenville Museum of Art, N.C. Wyeth: Inaugural Exhibition, March 9-May 26, 1974, p. 12, no. 71. (as The Nativity)
Tokyo, Odakyu Museum, The Great American Illustrators, 1993, pp. 34, 125, no. 12, illustrated, and elsewhere. (as Nativity)
Literature
T.N. Page, "The Stable of the Inn," Scribner's Magazine, New York, December 1912, vol. LII, no. 6, p. 644-A, illustrated.
"Latest Book News," The Buffalo Commercial Saturday Evening, New York, November 16, 1912, p. 7.
"The Christmas Scribner's: Price Collier on German Press and Politics-Beautifully Illustrated Story of the Nativity.," The Boston Globe, November 23, 1912, vol. LXXXII, no. 146, p. 13.
T.N. Page, The Land of the Spirit, New York, 1913, p. 104, illustrated. (as It was, then, not a dream. This was the sign unto them)
D. Allen, D. Allen Jr, N.C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations, and Murals, New York, 1972, pp. 75, 276, 334, illustrated. (as The Nativity)
The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., The Story of Jesus, Pleasantville, New York and Montreal, 1993, pp. 348, 370, illustrated. (as The tender Nativity scene)
C.B. Podmaniczky, N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, vol. I, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 2008, pp. 266, 902, no. I 457 (245), illustrated.
Newell Convers Wyeth had a robust, successful relationship with the publishing house Charles Scribner's Sons. In 1911, Wyeth was commissioned to paint seventeen works for Scribner's Treasure Island, which would be reproduced as illustrations to accompany the classic story. These works enhanced Robert Louis Stevenson's (1850-1894) text through their bold colors, dramatic flare and inherent suspense. This series is largely regarded as the artist's major commercial success and solidified his place as one of the masters of American Illustration.
The following year, Joseph H. Chaplin of Scribner's presented Wyeth with the text to Thomas Nelson Page's (1853-1922), The Stable of the Inn. Wyeth penned a letter to his wife, Carolyn Brenneman (née Bockius) Wyeth (1886-1973), in February in which he wrote, "...I shall make two drawings (200 per) for the Xmas number. Thos. Nelson Page--a delightful simple account of the birth of Christ and Joseph's and Mary's trip to Jerusalem previous to it" (Wyeth Family Archives)." The final versions included the present work and Behind Them Streamed the Mingled Traffic of a Road That Led to a Great City (Private collection). When viewed in the context of the The Stable of the Inn, the latter depicts Mary and Joseph pausing momentarily in the shade on their way to Bethlehem, while the former illustrates the moment the shepherds stumble upon the Christ child in the manger.
It was, then, not a dream. This was the sign unto them. (The Nativity), masterfully recreates a tranquil scene of a babe, swaddled in clothes, lying in a manager. In a frequent stylistic element for the artist, Wyeth chose to articulate the moment before a climatic action occurred. In the present work, the shepherds are seen in the background, trekking into view. The focal point of the composition is Christ as Wyeth has utilized a bright, overpowering highlight which speaks to the child's divinity and other worldliness. This light simultaneously permeates the canvas and instils symbolic meaning, demonstrating Wyeth's artistic dexterity. In It was, then, not a dream. This was the sign unto them. (The Nativity), Wyeth interprets a prominent scene in the history of art through his own distinctive style.