A Moonlight Tryst With A Mermaid - Mermaids Greeting Card

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This 1910 romantic painting by Howard Pyle, titled The Mermaid, was actually his very last painting and was left unfinished! It wasn't the first time he depicted merpeople, as much of his work existed in a world of fantasy. The nearly complete piece was finished by his student, Frank Schoonover, and we've reproduced the result here! See this image as an art print!

Howard Pyle (1853–1911), often hailed as the "Father of American Illustration," significantly shaped the landscape of illustration during the Golden Age of Illustration. Renowned for his vibrant and detailed works depicting fantasy, legend, and history, he not only established the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art in Wilmington, Delaware, but also mentored and trained numerous aspiring artists at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry. His teaching methods, emphasizing a strong narrative quality in illustration, played a pivotal role in elevating American illustration as a respected art form. Among his notable students were luminaries such as N.C. Wyeth, Sarah Stilwell Weber, and Jessie Willcox Smith, each achieving remarkable success in their artistic careers. He founded an artist colony, the Brandywine School, near the Brandywine River in Delaware, with both its style and its students (and their subsequent students) sometimes referred to as being of the Brandywine School. Notably, he never accepted payment for his teaching services. Furthermore, his classes boasted a groundbreaking fifty percent female student enrollment—a remarkable ratio that positively influenced the landscape for successful working female artists. Additionally, he authored and illustrated captivating stories, with The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883) standing out as a classic still in print today. An intriguing footnote to Pyle's legacy is that his illustrations of pirates are said by some to be the inspiration for our modern stereotype of pirate dress!

This product was custom designed and created at our location in Seattle.

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