Charles Scribner's Sons, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Brooklyn, New York, Art Gallery, Pratt Institute, Exhibition of Paintings and Illustrations by N.C. Wyeth, February-March 1920, no. 21 (as Crossing the Fens)

Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses, New York, 1916, illustrated opp. p. 40
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals, New York, 1972, p. 219
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N.C. Wyeth: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 2008, vol. I, no. I608, p. 322, illustrated 

This work is in very good condition. The canvas is unlined. There is one very thin vertical crack at left (corresponding to the stretcher bar) and two small areas of very fine, minor cracking in the sky at right. Under UV: there are a few small spots of inpainting in the water at left and in the sky, primarily at the upper left. Some other areas of the primed canvas fluoresce unevenly, but these are intentional and inherent to the artist's materials and technique. This work would likely benefit from a light cleaning.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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N.C. Wyeth painted So The Change was Made and They Went Forward as Briskly as They Durst on the Uneven Causeway (Crossing the Fens) in 1916 during the height of the period that is today known as the Golden Age of Illustration. By this time, Wyeth had achieved success as an illustrator after studying at Howard Pyle’s eponymous school and selling his first drawing to The Saturday Evening Post in 1903. He gained further recognition when he received a commission from Charles Scribner & Sons to illustrate Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in 1911. Wyeth’s career continued to flourish and he was commissioned to illustrate several other ‘Scribner Classics,’ including The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses for which the present work is an illustration. By the time of his death in 1945, Wyeth had created nearly 4,000 illustrations for books and magazines.

First published in 1888, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses is a story of adventure and romance set in fifteenth century England during the War of the Roses. Richard (Dick) Shelton, the protagonist, joins the fellowship of the Black Arrow to avenge the death of his father, who he learns was murdered by his guardian, Sir Daniel Brackley. Along the way Dick rescues the woman he loves and becomes entangled in the greater conflict surround them all – the struggl♈e between the Yorks and the Lancasters. The present work depicts Dick as a chivalrous figure, who is escorting a man who has escaped from Brackley across the marsh to safety. Wyeth produced seventeen illustrations for the story.  

Wyeth became particularly involved in illustrating The Black Arrow and according to Victoria Manning, “read extensively and understood the authors whose stories he visualized and communicated. Attention to exact details such as long-bows, spears, doublets, mail, and quarterstaves was essential. In thoroughly researching the details of medieval dress, language, and mannerisms, Wyeth followed Pyle’s lead. He accumulated pieces of authentic costuming and dramatized a scene or action whenever possible. His involvement with detail was so consuming that the book became part of his everyday life. Having internalized the black and warring mood of the medieval period, Wyeth reveled in the panoramic visual pageantry of these chivalrous times but despaired at the depressing legacy of brutality, treachery, and war. According to his letters, painting freed Wyeth from the emotional turmoil he experienced in his in-depth study of those perverted times. He released his passions on the canvas” (Visions of Advenutre: N.C. Wyeth and the Brandywine Artists, New York, 2000, p. 32).