"Now then, gentlemen, how much do you bid for this boy?" said the auctioneer

"Now then, gentlemen, how much do you bid for this boy?" said the auctioneer
"Now then, gentlemen, how much do you bid for this boy?" said the auctioneer

"Now then, gentlemen, how much do you bid for this boy?" said the auctioneer

Date1894
Artist (American illustrator, 1853–1911)
Illustration Citation"Jack Ballister's Fortunes," by Howard Pyle, in St. Nicholas, June 1894
MediumOil on illustration board
Dimensionssheet: 16 × 10 5/16 in. (40.6 × 26.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of James Calhoun, 1972
Object number1972-2
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextThis is one of fourteen paintings illustrating the tale of English orphan Jack Ballister, who finds himself kidnapped, set aboard a ship bound for the New World, and facing servitude in 18th-century Virginia. Soon he matches wits with Blackbeard and his pirate crew. The suspenseful story, replete with historic details of architecture and dress, and the individualized faces in the foreground are hallmarks of Pyle's style.

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