Howard Pyle, a chronicle by Charles D. Abbott, with an introduction by N. C. Wyeth and many illustrations from Howard Pyle's works.

HOWARD PYLE: A CHRONICLE
assuaged by the knowledge that even such changes were
absolutely necessary..00
"I do not believe that you will feel this to be mere sentimentality upon my part. I have lived so long in our
American past that it is like a certain part of my life. My
imagination dwells in it and at times when I sit in my studio
at work I f orget the present and see the characters and
things of these old days moving about me,.&0)
The first really historical picture of Howard Pyle's to be
published was in illustration to an article entitled "The
Battle of Monmouth Courthouse,"'1 by Benson J. Lossing.
The picture itself is called "Carnival, Philadelphia, 1778,"
and gives only slight promise of what was to follow after
years of experience. It is stiff and cumbersome; there are
too many figures and the composition is not such as to group
them harmoniously. In fact, the illustration leads one to
suspect that a young and untried artist had attempted something which lay far outside his province, a suspicion which
is indeed justified. Still, there was one quality which the
trained observer could not overlook; a careful attention to
detail characterized every figure. This alone gave the
prophetic note of future success. Let the painstaking care
be allied with a breadth of vision and skillful composition,
and a really accurate presentation of American history
would result.
The next pictures which were interpretative of the
Colonial background were much more simple and, consequently, far more effective. They were for the most part
of the landscape variety, portraying bits of the countryside
1HarPer's Nerw Monthly Magazine, June, 1878, VOL. lvii, P.:29.
['1541