I clutched at his ankle

I clutched at his ankle

I clutched at his ankle

Date1902
Artist (American illustrator, 1853–1911)
Illustration Citation"Sinbad on Burrator," by Arthur T. Quiller-Couch, in Scribner's Magazine, August 1902
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions23 3/4 × 15 3/4 in. (60.3 × 40 cm)
frame: 32 1/2 × 24 1/4 in. (82.6 × 61.6 cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 1912
Object number1912-100
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextHoward Pyle illustrated these scenes narrated by an old sailor living on Burrator, a plateau of wilderness area in England. The sailor recounts how, as a member of a shipboard military band in the waters off Borneo, he ended up on an island when left behind by his ship. Still in his dress uniform and with his bombardon (military tuba), he had various adventures--romantic, dangerous, and humorous--until he was rescued.

The Sinbad of the title was a fictional seaman with magic powers from Middle Eastern literature made popular by the 1885 English translation of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.