Bringing Fire and Terror to Rooftree and Bed
Date1898
Artist
Howard Pyle
(American illustrator, 1853–1911)
Illustration Citation"The Birds of Cirencester," by Bret Harte, in Scribner's Magazine, January 1898
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions22 1/2 × 13 1/2 in. (57.2 × 34.3 cm)
frame: 27 × 18 1/8 in. (68.6 × 46 cm)
frame: 27 × 18 1/8 in. (68.6 × 46 cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 1915
Object number1915-27
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextHoward Pyle depicts the panic of residents fleeing the British town of Cirencester during a 6th century Saxon invasion, a fictional event described in a poem by Bret Harte. Unable to broach the town's battlements, the Saxons attached slow-burning matches to captured birds that would fly back to their nests within the walls, setting the town on fire. Pyle's use of a flame-like red throughout the illustration reflects Harte's description of the event as "the Briton's red ruin and the Saxon's red shame."
