Presidential Portrait Painting

Down on the farm with Jamie Wyeth

Best known for a portrait of a pig, artist Jamie Wyeth says he has long had an affinity for animals.

He has solicited roadkill from friends to feed a baby vulture, for instance. A trip to the White House was highlighted by a bout with a feisty presidential pooch. And when a neighbor's cow died, Wyeth was there in a flash to paint the burning of its carcass.

Such brushes with animals resonate with a quirkiness that is comfortably consistent with his unconventional upbringing in Chadds Ford. Moreover, they generate a treasure trove of adventure that rivals the novels that his grandfather, N.C. Wyeth, famously illustrated.

The son of the late Andrew Wyeth, Wyeth was more than happy to share some of those tales during a recent interview to promote a collection of paintings - many of animals - which form the basis of "Farm Work by Jamie Wyeth," a 70-work exhibition at the Brandywine River Museum.

The show, which runs through Sept. 11, spans five decades - unless you count a 1949 drawing recently discovered by his mother, Betsy, that is also part of the display.

Wyeth grew up surrounded by critters - from standard-issue pets to his aunt's bear. Thus, his animal attachments evolved naturally, he said, eventually producing a menagerie at Point Lookout, the Delaware County farm he shares with his wife, Phyllis.

"They were easy models," Wyeth said of the animals.

Well, not always.

Sometimes he had to tie the beasts up to keep them from wandering. Some, like Den-Den, immortalized in Portrait of Pig , cooperated only if the mood was right.

"I learned from a longtime farmer that pigs enjoy soothing music," he said.

Wyeth, a youthful-looking 64, said he also needed a quick primer to care for Culture Vulture, a rescued turkey vulture that endeared itself to the artist, but not to his spouse.

"He smelled pretty bad," Wyeth acknowledged.

A dead cat or dog supplied several days of nutrition, and friends and neighbors obliged in delivering remains from area roadways.

James Browning Wyeth is the younger of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth's two sons. His brother, Nicholas, is a New York-based art dealer. They grew up in the family's longtime Chadds Ford home, an enclave of historic stone buildings along the Brandywine Creek.

Wyeth's middle name came from his mother, who traced her lineage to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the Victorian poet.

"She always said her family was much more creative," Wyeth said, smiling broadly.