tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820Wed, 13 May 2026 18:39:05 +0000biographyoilinkColonialHarper’s MonthlystudentsAmerican historylettersModernon artteacherHarper's Young PeopleItalyMedieval1911colorletteringHarper’s WeeklyWilmingtonblack and whitefriends190219051904Drexel InstituteWoodrow Wilsonallegoricalchildren'sphotographpiratesyouth1895191018831897189818991906Scribner's Magazine189018921894Chadds FordGeorge Washingtonstudio1876187818891896190019011903Cass GilbertTheodore RooseveltWilliam Dean Howellsfamily1881N. C. Wyeth18861887Augustus Saint Gaudens1879189118931908Delaware Art MuseumThe Century Magazine188418851909Charles Scribner’s SonsHenry Cabot LodgeMcClure's MagazineOliver Wendell HolmesSt. NicholasThe Wonder Clockpolitics188018881907Art Students' LeagueMark TwainMaxfield ParrishNew YorkPepper and Saltchildren’slandscapemural18751882Allen Tupper TrueChristmasColonies and NationCressonEdmund Clarence StedmanEdwin Austin AbbeyFrank SchoonoverHenry Jarvis PeckKing ArthurMen of IronSalmagundi ClubTravels of the SoulTwilight Landephemerafairy talestravelsversewitches1877Andrew WyethAnne Poole PyleArthur Burdett FrostArthur Conan DoyleChincoteagueCivil WarFrancis Davis MilletFrederic RemingtonKatharine PyleRobert Louis StevensonRobin HoodScribner’s MonthlySellers PyleWilliam Howard Taftbiographicaldeathgouachereligionvideo185318711912Art Institute of ChicagoAutocrat of the Breakfast-TableBattle of NashvilleBertha Corson DayCharles ParsonsCollier’s WeeklyDrexelEdward W. BokEdwin MarkhamEphrataEvery EveningFord Madox BrownHarper and BrothersHarpers MonthlyHarper’s BazarHarvey DunnJames Branch CabellJohn Henderson BettsJohn M. RogersMaroonedMotherRehobothRudyard KiplingScribner’s MagazineStanley ArthursValentine's DayValley ForgeVincent Van GoghWide AwakeWinslow Homerbookplatesfablesfoodmugsketches186318661869187019141996Abraham LincolnAngel DeCoraAnna W. HoopesAnne Abercrombie MhoonBaryeBayreBenjamin FranklinBotticelliBoutet de MonvelBrandywine River MuseumCentury AssociationClifford Warren AshleyClyde Osmer DelandCosmopolitanDarleyDickensEdith Kermit RooseveltEdward Livermore BurlingameEdwin Davis FrenchElihu VedderElisabeth Moore HallowellEmlen McConnellEthel Pennewill BrownEugene FieldF. B. SchellFrank H. WellingtonFranklin Inn ClubGeorge De Forest BrushGeorge Washington CableGertrude BrinckléHPSAHenry Mills AldenHoward Pyle: American Master RediscoveredHudson County Court HouseIndianapolisJack Ballister’s FortunesJamaicaJames BaldwinJames Edmund DunningJames Edwin McBurneyJean François MilletJohn Everett MilletJohn SloanJohn WellerJoseph Hawley ChapinLadies Home JournalLouis Daniel GowingM. C. PyleMan with the HoeMarylandMrs. Henry DudeneyNathaniel HawthorneNorman Rockwell MuseumOlive RushPan-American ExpositionPierre Puvis de ChavannesPlayers ClubPre-RaphaelitesRalph Adams CramRaphaelRichard Harding DavisRomeSamuel Morrow Palmer Jr.Sarah S. StilwellSpringtimeThe Garden Behind the MoonTheodore PyleThomas Wilmer DewingTitanicViolet OakleyWalt WhitmanWalter CraneWarwick DeepingWashington IrvingWilla CatherWilliam Henry JacksonWilliam McKinleyWilliam PyleWinthrop ScudderWisconsinYaleYale ClubYankee Doodlebootscatscharcoalillustrationinitialinteriorjestersmodelsmythologicalobituarypeachespencilracismstained glasswatercolorA blog devoted to the life and work of Howard Pyle (1853-1911), the American artist, author, and teacher.http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)Blogger399125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-5340977159316771702Sun, 10 Nov 2024 02:07:00 +00002024-11-10T08:45:40.509-05:001876children'sfablesinkSt. Nicholas When 23-year-old Howard Pyle began his career, he eked out a living by writing fables, drawing on his already vast knowledge of the genre. “I try to make them as witty as I can,” he explained, “and at the same time indoctrinate a small lesson with them. I strive to hold the lesson in view and throw in the wit as an accessory. Perhaps if I do the best I can in this way it may bear fruit at some http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-bat-lost-fable.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-7418253720814032073Tue, 29 Mar 2022 22:19:00 +00002024-11-10T08:31:15.534-05:001903Allen Tupper TrueHenry Jarvis PeckHPSAJohn M. Rogersteacher “The class organization that Mr. Pyle suggested at his dinner has been going forward and I am now serving as one of five on a committee for framing a constitution and perfecting some scheme for the school organization.” So wrote Pyle student Allen Tupper True to his mother on March 29, 1903. “His dinner” was Howard Pyle’s 50th birthday party, held at his Wilmington studio on March 5, 1903. http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2022/03/it-is-big-serious-business.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-3537613471191469189Mon, 28 Mar 2022 19:43:00 +00002024-11-10T08:30:51.435-05:001902allegoricalbookplatescolor Howard Pyle’s bookplate on the marbled pastedown endpaper of…what, exactly? We may never know, because someone - a monster - conveniently detached the cover from the rest of the book. (Please don’t follow this example: it’s like cutting the signature off a letter then throwing the letter away.) I suspect, though, that it came from a uniform set of one of Pyle’s favorite authors - Jane Austenhttp://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2022/03/detachment-disorder.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-3726191877376729986Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:11:00 +00002024-11-10T08:30:25.060-05:001900lettersPan-American ExpositionTheodore RooseveltWilliam McKinley Although not particularly substantive, this Howard Pyle letter - written 122 years ago today - to Mrs. John G. Milburn of Buffalo, New York, is of interest by association. Mrs. John G. Milburn’s husband was President of the Pan-American Exposition Company and the Milburns lent a suite of rooms in their house at 1168 Delaware Avenue to President and Mrs. William McKinley to use during their http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-witness-to-history-sort-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-5645058146191030312Wed, 16 Feb 2022 00:54:00 +00002022-02-15T19:54:15.263-05:00“‘We note the passage of our life by its losses and neglects,’ says a certain author,” Howard Pyle once wrote. I have yet to identify who that “certain author” was, but the quote has come to mind often since my last post - and especially since March 18, 2021, when we lost one of Pyle’s greatest champions, Paul Preston Davis. I’d felt Preston’s loss since May 2020, in fact, when he called to http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2022/02/paul-preston-davis-1931-2021.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-2997472335386553027Sat, 09 Nov 2019 18:22:00 +00002019-11-09T13:22:01.011-05:001907Charles Scribner’s SonsinkKing ArthurMedieval“I have just received the complimentary copies of my last book, ‘Sir Launcelot and His Companions,’” wrote Howard Pyle to Charles Scribner’s Sons on October 26, 1907. Like many authors and illustrators, Pyle may have leafed through the new volume with a mixture of pride and apprehension. And in this case an embarrassing discovery was in store: “I notice in looking it over that I have made a http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2019/11/i-have-made-very-great-mistake.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-131161032958545046Mon, 30 Jul 2018 02:05:00 +00002018-07-29T22:05:53.876-04:00188818981899black and whiteCharles Scribner’s SonsJoseph Hawley ChapinModernoilScribner's MagazineHoward Pyle’s painting “He looked down and sang out, ‘Lower away!’” has never gotten much attention. There are two chief reasons for this: the first is that it was printed only once, in Scribner’s Magazine for January 1900, where it and two other pictures - one of which was featured here - accompanied Pyle’s short story, “A Life for a Life.” The tale was inspired by the effects of the http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2018/07/he-looked-down-and-sang-out-lower-away.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-6379228527926753237Sun, 05 Nov 2017 17:52:00 +00002017-11-05T12:52:30.763-05:001901allegoricalinkThe Wonder ClockHoward Pyle sometimes drew a little picture when he signed his books, like in this copy of the 1901 edition of The Wonder Clock which he inscribed on November 5, 1901.http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-pyle-inscription.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-8070022075097321413Sat, 24 Jun 2017 20:09:00 +00002017-06-24T16:09:43.161-04:001882Charles Scribner’s SonsEdward Livermore BurlingameEvery EveningJames BaldwinMedieval “The Forging of Balmung” by Howard Pyle (Frank French, engraver) “Please let me know when you are likely to be in New York again,” wrote E. L. Burlingame, editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons, to Howard Pyle on January 12, 1882. “We have a matter of some importance which I think would interest you; at all events I should like to talk it over with you at your first opportunity.” The “matter” washttp://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-story-of-siegfried.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-2803213166746113860Tue, 14 Feb 2017 20:42:00 +00002017-06-22T10:40:35.699-04:001881black and whiteHarper’s WeeklyValentine's DayIt was in 1880, most likely, that 27-year-old Howard Pyle - then living and working at his parents’ house, but soon to be married - painted “St. Valentine’s Day in the Morning”. The black-and-white gouache measured about 18 x 15 inches or so, but the picture as engraved by Gustav Kruell was only 12.7 x 9 inches when it appeared in the February 26, 1881, issue of Harper’s Weekly. As far as earlyhttp://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2017/02/love-will-tear-us-apart.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-1637127648679384777Tue, 18 Oct 2016 23:49:00 +00002016-10-18T19:49:57.123-04:001903Allen Tupper TrueChadds FordJames Edwin McBurneyN. C. WyethphotographSamuel Morrow Palmer Jr.“This is the last week at the Ford and I’ll make the best of it,” wrote N. C. Wyeth to his mother on Sunday, October 18, 1903. “Then back to Wilmington where I hope before I leave again I’ll be doing illustrating galore.” It was indeed the last week at Chadd’s Ford: after six years, never again would Howard Pyle conduct his “Summer School” there. That very morning he had held his final http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2016/10/this-is-last-week-at-ford.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-5184174124505309367Wed, 21 Sep 2016 18:59:00 +00002016-09-21T14:59:04.795-04:001893American historyColonialHarper’s MonthlyinkNew York Behold Howard Pyle’s exquisitely delicate depiction of the fire that destroyed part of lower Manhattan 240 years ago. He made this pen and ink drawing - most likely in the winter of 1892-93 - as a headpiece for Thomas A. Janvier’s two-part article on “The Evolution of New York” (Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, June 1893), and he must have used this 1730s engraving - “A View of Fort George with http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2016/09/in-1776-conflagration.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-7600344113009250838Sat, 05 Mar 2016 15:05:00 +00002016-03-05T10:05:27.857-05:001909American historySpringtimewatercolor Five costume designs for “Springtime” by Howard Pyle (1909) - via Northeast Auctions Howard Pyle’s stint as a Broadway costume designer has been all but forgotten. So, let’s remember: In 1909, impresario Frederic Thompson - co-creator of Luna Park on Coney Island and the Hippodrome Theatre in Manhattan - began production on a play to promote his wife, actress Mabel Taliaferro. The star http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2016/03/howard-pyle-costume-designer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-8985535381937675248Fri, 01 Jan 2016 21:26:00 +00002024-11-10T08:26:49.777-05:0018991900allegoricalMcClure's MagazineHoward Pyle’s cover design for the January 1900 issue of McClure’s Magazine is not necessarily his best work, nor is it very well known: it was used only once and the original art is missing. Pyle had promised to do the job early in 1899, but, busy as ever, he only got around to submitting sketches in July, while working and teaching at Chadd’s Ford. After a couple of false starts, he finally http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-cover-design-for-new-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-4529587957346401955Fri, 27 Nov 2015 12:48:00 +00002017-06-22T10:15:36.012-04:001901allegoricalBertha Corson DayHarpers MonthlyinkMedievalstudents“...the illustration for ‘Margaret of Cortona’ is now in the possession of Mrs. Dan Bates, to whom I gave it some years ago,” wrote Howard Pyle from his villa in Italy on August 10, 1911. “Mrs. Dan Bates” was the former Bertha Corson Day (1875-1968), who was, as she herself put it, “an enthusiastic pupil of Howard Pyle” for several years, starting with his very first class at the Drexel http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2015/11/margaret-of-cortona.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-737499896915423401Mon, 09 Nov 2015 17:05:00 +00002017-06-22T10:16:05.276-04:001886black and whiteMedievaloilWide Awake“Surprised by the Hero of Seventy Fights - The Good Lord James of Douglas” - another long lost work by Howard Pyle - will be sold at auction this coming Saturday. By “long lost” I mean that for almost 130 years the greater public has only been able to see a small wood engraving of it - that is, provided they could find copies of the magazine and books in which it first (and perhaps only) appearedhttp://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2015/11/surprised-by-hero-of-seventy-fights.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-1142116857283339246Wed, 16 Sep 2015 14:18:00 +00002015-09-17T20:16:32.272-04:001910ColonialFrank SchoonoverHudson County Court HousemuralN. C. WyethoilsketchesStanley ArthursStudy for “Life in an Old Dutch Town” by Howard Pyle (1910) Howard Pyle’s 16.5 x 71" oil on canvas study for his mural “Life in an Old Dutch Town” (also known as “The First Settlement on Manhattan Island”) will be sold by Sloans & Kenyon Auctioneers and Appraisers in Bethesda, Maryland, this Sunday, September 20, 2015. The finished mural was one of three Pyle painted for the Freeholders’ Room http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2015/09/study-for-life-in-old-dutch-town.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-980666219853431662Sat, 20 Jun 2015 17:45:00 +00002015-06-20T13:45:43.941-04:00That’s good advice, and I really ought to take it - at least when it comes to this blog. Somehow I’ve been neglectful for four months. The fact is, I return to Howard Pyle every day, rain or shine, and in the past few months I’ve been so deep in my research that I haven’t had the chance or been in the mindset to write anything up. But I’ll come around again, soon. If anything, there’s too much http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2015/06/return-in-ten-days-to-howard-pyle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-7330521985438517808Sun, 22 Feb 2015 17:20:00 +00002015-02-23T13:02:00.499-05:001894Arthur Conan DoyleHarper’s WeeklyModernThis Howard Pyle picture went untitled when it appeared in Harper’s Weekly for December 1, 1894, illustrating Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Parasite. However, in the book version (published in mid-December 1894, after the four-part serialization) it was called “‘Struck me with both fists’” - and indeed it shows the spellbound hero of the novella, Austin Gillroy, beating the stuffing out of his http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2015/02/another-picture-for-arthur-conan-doyle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-8137682637668491159Sat, 21 Feb 2015 18:52:00 +00002017-06-22T10:16:33.489-04:0018941895Arthur Conan DoyleinkMedievalRudyard KiplingScribner’s MagazinePardon the clickbait title, but I couldn’t resist after yesterday’s “news” that a “lost” Sherlock Holmes story “by” Arthur Conan Doyle had come to light. Fortunately, last night, Mattias Boström, a bona fide Doyle scholar, wrote an article which dismantled the hastily made claims. (Before being eclipsed by Howard Pyle, Doyle and Holmes were the objects of my obsession, and I still dip into their http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-forgotten-tale-by-arthur-conan-doyle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-3278605834359488603Fri, 13 Feb 2015 23:13:00 +00002015-02-13T18:15:10.496-05:0018831884George Washington CableinkMark TwainRobin Hood Mark Twain and G. W. Cable via www.twainquotes.com On February 13, 1884, author George Washington Cable - then in the midst of an extended stay at the Hartford, Connecticut, home of Samuel L. Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) - concluded a letter to his wife with this comment: Mrs. Clemens is reading aloud to Mark & the children Howard Pyle’s beautiful new version of Robin Hood. Mark enjoys it http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2015/02/mark-twain-and-howard-pyles-robin-hood.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-2716943858348279226Tue, 10 Feb 2015 15:36:00 +00002015-02-10T11:37:15.069-05:0019011902allegoricalAugustus Saint GaudenscolorHarper’s Monthlylettersoil “A Dream of Young Summer” by Howard Pyle (1901) “As you know,” said Howard Pyle to the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in a letter of January 2, 1902, “I have always admired your work extremely - have always considered you as a representative of that steadfast and lofty effort toward an Art that cannot condescend to tricks and effects to catch the eye, but that speaks with a deeper intonation http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-nice-trade.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-8262751727400111490Tue, 30 Dec 2014 22:42:00 +00002014-12-30T17:42:36.832-05:0019051906ColonialmugSalmagundi ClubIn his 1918 history of New York City’s venerable Salmagundi Club, club librarian William Henry Shelton recalled a proposal he had made at the turn of the last century “which was the beginning of one of the most interesting customs of the club and one which has furnished the library with an ample income from that day to this.” The idea suggested was that twenty-four mugs or steins be decorated http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-mug-pipe-and-pleasant-friend-or-two.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-1105967246788010458Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:46:00 +00002014-10-30T15:46:58.871-04:001895friendslettersWilliam Dean HowellsHoward Pyle’s fondness for the writings of William Dean Howells is well documented - mostly in Pyle’s own correspondence. On October 30, 1895, Pyle wrote yet another glowing letter to his literary idol, mentor, and friend: My wife and I are reading your Shaker story together. I was so much impressed with the first number that I sat down immediately and wrote Harry Harper what I so strongly felt http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2014/10/no-american-writer-can-come-within.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8613902890681868820.post-2589217485558499029Mon, 27 Oct 2014 13:00:00 +00002014-10-27T09:00:58.264-04:001908inkTheodore RooseveltAlthough I have yet to find out when exactly Howard Pyle and Theodore Roosevelt first met (the earliest known in-the-same-room-at-the-same-time instance was at a January 1896 dinner in honor of Owen Wister), by 1898 Pyle was referring to the then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy as “my friend”. Their bond, I gather, had its roots in their mutual love of history, but after 1901 Pyle also became http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-birthday-card-for-theodore-roosevelt.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr)0