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Lot Essay
Jack the Giant-Killer is one of seventeen illustrations by N.C. Wyeth created for an Anthology of Children’s Literature, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1940. Other works included in the collection were illustrations for Heidi, Robin Hood and Little John, and Arion and the Dolphin.
Despite his reputation for paintings of larger-than-life adventure, Wyeth painted fewer illustrations of fantastical subjects than he did of historical characters and tales. The Anthology of Children’s Literature, the last major book he illustrated, gave him ample opportunity to indulge his imagination and abilities in a wide variety of stories, fables and fairy tales. By this time in his career, the painting style had become more detailed, less impressionistic, with a thinner application of oil paint than earlier. The colors are brighter and more saturated. But like all his best work, this particular painting creates drama even out of something as innocuous as serving food to a guest. The picture’s tension derives from the contrary attitudes of the giant’s two heads, the one seemingly solicitous of Jack’s well-being with a generous helping of food, the other larger head turned away and winking in gleeful malice at his guest’s impending doom. A preliminary drawing for lantern slide projection on to the canvas shows that Wyeth made small but telling changes during the execution of the painting. For example the spoon changes from an over-size tea spoon to larger serving spoon. Wyeth’s son Andrew, who recalled his father’s fascination with creating a two-headed character, noted that the final silver bowl in the painting matches one the artist had given to his wife.
Some years after the illustration was published, Wyeth’s young grandson Newell saw the original in his grandfather’s studio and became entranced with it. He asked to see it so many times that the artist finally gave it to the boy as a gift sometime before the tragic auto accident that took both their lives.
Despite his reputation for paintings of larger-than-life adventure, Wyeth painted fewer illustrations of fantastical subjects than he did of historical characters and tales. The Anthology of Children’s Literature, the last major book he illustrated, gave him ample opportunity to indulge his imagination and abilities in a wide variety of stories, fables and fairy tales. By this time in his career, the painting style had become more detailed, less impressionistic, with a thinner application of oil paint than earlier. The colors are brighter and more saturated. But like all his best work, this particular painting creates drama even out of something as innocuous as serving food to a guest. The picture’s tension derives from the contrary attitudes of the giant’s two heads, the one seemingly solicitous of Jack’s well-being with a generous helping of food, the other larger head turned away and winking in gleeful malice at his guest’s impending doom. A preliminary drawing for lantern slide projection on to the canvas shows that Wyeth made small but telling changes during the execution of the painting. For example the spoon changes from an over-size tea spoon to larger serving spoon. Wyeth’s son Andrew, who recalled his father’s fascination with creating a two-headed character, noted that the final silver bowl in the painting matches one the artist had given to his wife.
Some years after the illustration was published, Wyeth’s young grandson Newell saw the original in his grandfather’s studio and became entranced with it. He asked to see it so many times that the artist finally gave it to the boy as a gift sometime before the tragic auto accident that took both their lives.