Name That Mermaid

...or more specifically, the artist and where you can view the original artwork from which this is a detail.  Barker family members and their guests who have seen a print hanging in the Lower Cottage at Monhegan are disqualified (but can grin knowingly as others guess). 

I like mermaids, and this one is a particularly fine example of the species.     Too bad the seas in which she swims are off the edge of the map...

Comments

[Ed Darrell]

Who was the model?

[Tour Marm]

I just returned from a funeral of the aunt of a photographer who worked in the photo department at NGS. My cousin Joe Bailey used to take me around NGS during our many lunches together. He also produced many of the photos in the guidebooks of the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, and Library of Congress. Sadly, he died in 2001 of ALS. But I do remember purchasing this map - as well as the Western Hemisphere during one of my visits.

While I do know my American illustrators, your clue about the map was the giveaway!

Can't wait for the next one!

[GreenmanTim]

Nailed it, Tour Marm! Spot on with the artist and the location. NC did a mural at my old boarding school, St. Andrew's in Middletown, DE, that you can catch a glimpse of in Dead Poet's Society, which was filmed there. Lots of pale Christian boys, healthy in body and mind, and important men inspired by classical architecture, and a stone faced goddess figure revered by the clean white youth. Tom Brown's School Days, without the nasty bits. One wonders whether NC was being satirical...

[Tour Marm]

Wait! I have seen this! I own a copy! Duh!

One can find the original in National Geographic. It is from the NGS 1927 Map of Discovery series featuring the Western Hemisphere. There are 5 murals by Wyeth in Hubbard Hall at the NGS headquarters and this is one of them.

This appeared on the January 1929 issue of National Geographic.

[Tour Marm]

I believe this is by N.C. Wyeth