The blades rang together

The blades rang together

The blades rang together

Date1924
Artist (American illustrator, 1872–1947)
Illustration Citation"Captain Blood," by Raphael Sabatini. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1924.
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions30 × 21 1/8 in. (76.2 × 53.7 cm)
frame: 37 3/4 × 29 in. (95.9 × 73.7 cm)
Credit LineGayle and Alene Hoskins Endowment Fund, 1990
Object number1990-15
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextClyde DeLand learned from Howard Pyle to value historically accurate detail and became a specialist in historical subjects. Raphael Sabatini's historical novel centers on Irish physician Peter Blood, who is accused of treason during a 17th century uprising against the British crown, then shipped off to the Caribbean, and sold as a slave. Blood eventually escapes and has no choice but to take up as a pirate. Deland shows him dispatching the French pirate Levasseur in a duel. After further adventures, Captain Blood is ultimately pardoned and rewarded. This scene was immortalized in the 1935 film Captain Blood, with Errol Flynn in title role and Basil Rathbone as Levasseur.