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Pharmaceutical Company Donates N.C. Wyeth Painting To Philadelphia Museum Of Art

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has donated a painting with a mysterious past to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The work by N.C. Wyeth was one of 16 illustrations made in 1929 for a translation of Homer's Greek classic "The Odyssey." Wyeth sold the series to a collector in 1930. The whereabouts of all but six are unknown.

"The Trial of the Bow" is the first Wyeth work in the museum's collection. Glaxo had it since the 1980s.

GlaxoSmithKline recently moved from its downtown office building to a modern new headquarters at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and decided to part with its collection of several hundred photos, drawings, textiles and paintings. The new building has glass walls and an open floor plan without a lot of places to hang art.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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