The Farnsworth Art Museum has acquired four murals by American artist Newell Convers (N.C.) Wyeth (1882–1945), courtesy of a gift of Bank of America. Commissioned more than a century ago by the First National Bank of Boston, a predecessor institution of Bank of America, the mural cycle depicts, through the artist’s perspective, scenes of maritime trade and commerce in New England.

“This is an extraordinary gift to the Farnsworth and an important addition to our collection of work by the Wyeth family,” said Christopher J. Brownawell, Executive Director of the Farnsworth Art Museum, in a news release. “These murals demonstrate N.C. Wyeth’s remarkable abilities as a painter and storyteller on a grand scale, while their subject matter speaks directly to New England’s maritime heritage. We are deeply grateful to Bank of America for entrusting these works to the Farnsworth, where they can be preserved, studied, and, most importantly, shared with the public for generations to come.”

The Phoenician Biremes (1923), The Elizabeth Galleons (1924), The Clippers (1924), and The Tramp Steamer (1924) collectively make up the commission for the First National Bank of Boston. For decades, the paintings were displayed in the lobby of Bank of America’s 100 Federal Street building in Boston, Massachusetts, where they reflected the region’s long history of maritime commerce and its connections to trade, industry, and the sea.

In recent years, Bank of America’s art and culture team began exploring opportunities to place the murals with a museum where they could remain accessible to the public. To prepare the works for their next chapter, Bank of America engaged a professional conservator to carefully remove each painting from the large panels on which it had been installed, allowing the works to be safely transported, stored, and ultimately exhibited.

“Given the Wyeth family’s deep roots in Maine, the Farnsworth is a fitting place for these paintings,” said Brian King, Bank of America Maine President. “We’re proud to play a role in bringing them home and becoming part of a collection where visitors can experience the artwork and the history behind it.”
 
“This transformative gift marks the first time any murals by N.C. Wyeth will enter the Farnsworth’s collection,” said Farnsworth’s Chief Curator Jaime DeSimone. “His ambitious vision brings together American history, industry, and imagination on a grand scale, expanding our ability to explore the story of American art and its relationship to architecture and public life. We are thrilled to unveil these paintings in an exhibition, where visitors can fully appreciate their remarkable scale, richness, and visual power.”
 
The murals will go on view in a special exhibition at the Farnsworth’s Wyeth Center in June 2028.

N.C. Wyeth and the Farnsworth
N.C. Wyeth was born in Needham, Massachusetts, in 1882 and maintained a lifelong connection to New England. Although he established his primary home and studio in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, he returned to New England each summer beginning in 1910, when he and his family began summering in Port Clyde.

In 1920, they purchased a house there, naming it Eight Bells after Winslow Homer’s celebrated painting. Wyeth returned to Port Clyde each summer for the remainder of his life, and the Maine coast became an important setting for his independent painting. Works such as Bright and Fair—Eight Bells(1936) and Maine Headland, Black Head, Monhegan Island (circa 1936–38), all in the Farnsworth’s collection, reflect his sustained engagement with the landscape and communities of the region.

Wyeth’s relationship with Massachusetts and Maine provides an important context for the Farnsworth’s collection, connecting the artist’s New England origins with the place that became a defining part of his mature artistic life. The museum’s holdings illuminate both his celebrated career as an illustrator and his ambitions as a painter, while situating those practices within his deep connection to the Maine coast. His summers in Port Clyde also established the foundation for the Wyeth family’s multigenerational relationship with Maine, making his work an important starting point for the Farnsworth’s broader story of the Wyeths, including his son and artist Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) and grandson, James (Jamie) Wyeth (born 1946), and their enduring engagement with the people, landscapes, and artistic traditions of Midcoast Maine and the wider canon of American art.

The Farnsworth Art Museum has played a central role in collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting the work of the Wyeth family. The museum’s Wyeth Center, located in a converted church adjacent to the Farnsworth campus in downtown Rockland, is dedicated to exhibitions exploring the work and legacy of N.C., Andrew, and Jamie Wyeth and the broader artistic traditions surrounding the family.

That legacy continues through the Farnsworth’s partnership with the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, established by Andrew N. Wyeth and Betsy James Wyeth in 2002 to advance the study, appreciation, and recognition of excellence in American art. Through a partnership with the Farnsworth and the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, some 7,000 works from the Foundation’s collection are being made accessible for exhibitions, scholarship, and loans, with each museum housing half of the collection in its respective Wyeth Study Center. The partnership builds on both museums’ longstanding relationships with the Wyeth family while creating new opportunities to preserve, interpret, and expand public understanding of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth’s artistic legacy.

Bank of America and the Arts
This gift reflects Bank of America’s longstanding commitment to supporting arts and cultural organizations and expanding public access to art. Bank of America holds additional works by N.C. Wyeth and other members of the Wyeth family in its art collection and regularly makes works from the collection available to museums and nonprofit cultural institutions through its Art in Our Communities® program. Since the program launched in 2008, exhibitions drawn from the Bank of America Art Collection have been loaned more than 175 times to cultural institutions around the world. Bank of America has also made significant gifts of artwork from its collection to cultural institutions.

The Farnsworth is also one of approximately 250 cultural institutions participating in Bank of America’s Museums on Us® program, which provides eligible Bank of America, Merrill, and Bank of America Private Bank cardholders with free general admission to participating museums and cultural attractions during the first full weekend of every month.

Bank of America supports arts and cultural organizations through funding and programs designed to increase access to the arts and preserve significant works and heritage sites for future generations. Since 2010, the Bank of America Art Conservation Project™ has supported more than 15,000 conservation projects in 40 countries, helping safeguard historically and culturally significant works vulnerable to time and environmental stress.

ABOUT THE FARNSWORTH ART MUSEUM
Located in Rockland, the Farnsworth is dedicated to illuminating the rich, living history of Maine's influence on American art. Home to a nationally recognized collection of nearly 16,000 works spanning the 19th Century to today, the Farnsworth celebrates artists who were born in Maine, inspired by its landscapes and communities, or whose work has shaped the state's enduring artistic legacy. Through world-class exhibitions, dynamic educational programs, historic sites, and meaningful partnerships, the museum inspires visitors from around the world to discover how Maine continues to shape American art. Named one of the finest small museums in the country by The Boston Globe, and the Best Museum in Maine by Down East Magazine, the Farnsworth welcomes visitors year-round as a cultural destination and a vital resource for lifelong learning. Learn more at farnsworthmuseum.org.