Marooned
Date1909
Artist
Howard Pyle
(American illustrator, 1853–1911)
Illustration CitationNot reproduced.
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions40 x 60 in. (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
frame: 56 × 75 in. (142.2 × 190.5 cm)
frame: 56 × 75 in. (142.2 × 190.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 1912
Object number1912-136
On View
On viewClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextThe story of this painting resides not in a narrative plot but in the pirate's state of hopeless abandonment. He has been marooned—the most extreme punishment for violators of the pirates' code of conduct—and left to die on an isolated sand bar with a day's supply of water, no food or shelter, and often with a loaded pistol. Inescapable sand and burning sky, and birds in flight without alighting, intensify the emotional impact of his fate. The tension of his interlocked fingers foreshadows the drawn-out agony of madness, to be followed by death from thirst and starvation. The painting is a portrait not just of the end of an adventurer's life but a commentary on human suffering.
