“The Flying Dutchman”
One from the great Howard Pyle…
“The Flying Dutchman” is an oil on canvas painting by the American artist, Howard Pyle, from 1900. The Flying Dutchman is the name of a legendary captain and ghost ship, doomed to sail the seas forever, never making port. If you come across this spectral ship, it is an omen of bad things to come.
In this painting, the captain stands defiantly on the deck of his ship, his arms crossed. His eyes are glowing red and are cast in shadow below the rim of his hat. His black cape and the red sash around his waist both fly in the wind. The ship is tossed violently about in the sea, with tall white-capped waves visible in the background. Three members of the crew can be seen in the foreground on the bottom right, their faces miserable. The water streaming across the deck gives visible movement to the piece, as the white lines zig and zag across the field of view.
The legend of the Flying Dutchman originated in the late eighteenth century, being first printed in a 1790 in John MacDonald’s Travels in various part of Europe, Asia and Africa during a series of thirty years and upward. By this time, it may have already been a well-known oral tale.
In the story, a captain sailed his ship and crew into a storm, defying odds and God himself. In many versions, he sells his soul to the devil for safe passage. As punishment, the ship floundered and everyone on board died. Everyone that is, except the captain, who was doomed to sail the ship for eternity. The ship was often seen during times of great distress, such as in heavy storms. It was always regarded as a bad omen.
Sightings of the ship were a frequent occurrence after the popularization of the story. Reports of seeing the spectral ship occurred for several hundred years, with the last sighting in 1911. Famously, in 1880 at 15 years old, King George V of the United Kingdom, while at sea (and not yet king), wrote in his log of a personal Flying Dutchman sighting he experienced during a storm.
This illustration was made for Collier’s Weekly. It was printed in the Volume 26, Number 10 edition on December 8, 1900. It was the centerfold image, printed 90 degrees in the publication, for the Christmas edition.
“The Flying Dutchman” is currently on display at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware, in the United States.
For more on Howard Pyle, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
