“The Flight Across the Lake”
I am currently reading the third book of this series, and Wyeth’s paintings have been a joy to look at!
“The Flight Across the Lake” is an oil on canvas painting by the American artist and illustrator, N. C. Wyeth, from 1919. This was one of 17 paintings that Wyeth created for Charles Scribner’s Son’s publication of The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.
The Last of the Mohicans is the second book in the Leatherstocking Tales by American author, James Fenimore Cooper. The series follows the protagonist, Natty Bumppo, who has many aliases. In this book, he is known as Hawkeye, a name given him near the end The Deerslayer (the books were written out of chronological order, and The Deerslayer was the last book written). Hawkeye became an extremely popular figure in American literary history. He was known for his accuracy with his long rifle, named Killdeer. I first became aware of him from the 1992 film adaptation of the same name starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
The illustration takes place in the story after the massacre at Fort William Henry. Cora and Alice Munroe have been taken by Magua with a group of Huron. In their pursuit are Hawkeye (the scout), Major Duncan Heyward, Lieutenant Colonel Munro, Uncas, and Uncas’s father, Chingachgook. The party cautiously advances across a lake in a canoe to avoid detection by any unknown Huron or French parties. The lake is named Horican in the book, Lake George in modern times, Lac du Saint Sacrement at the time by the French, and was named Andiatorocté by the Indigenous Americans.
Hawkeye and his companions are discovered by a Huron group camped on a small island and are shot at. After retreating far enough where the Huron guns can’t reach, but Killdeer can, Hawkeye raises his rifle and aims. Wyeth beautifully illustrates this moment. The image was accompanied with the text, “The scout having ascertained that the Mohicans were sufficiently of themselves to maintain the requisite distance, deliberately laid aside his paddle, and raised that fatal rifle.” However, Hawkeye takes no shot. He is alerted that the Huron are approaching from the other side in a canoe, so he puts the rifle down to help instead with the paddle and their speed.
In 1911, Charles Scribner’s Son’s commissioned Wyeth to illustrate a new edition of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was very successful and began Wyeth’s career of illustrating classic literature books for a new young audience. Wyeth followed Treasure Island with illustrations for many famous titles, including Kidnapped, Robin Hood, The Boy’s King Arthur, and The Last of the Mohicans, among others. The illustrations were faithfully reproduced with stunning quality.
For research, Wyeth visited upstate New York, where the book takes place. He visited Glens Falls, Lake George, and Fort William Henry before its restoration. Lake George is long and narrow and contains many small islands, which inspires his art. He also took images of some of the scenery which he brough back to his studio. Wyeth’s marked copy of Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans is in the collections of the Brandywine River Museum.
“The Flight Across the Lake” is in the collections of the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in the United States, along with many other works from the talented Wyeth family.
For more on N. C. Wyeth, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
