Email Address:. Some articles, summaries, and parts of major works can be found on academia. Arguably only a few illustrators have matched, and none have surpassed, Howard Pyle for his iconic pirate images and their contribution to the modern myth of pirates and piracy.
Whether of picturesque and picaresque buccaneers, or of pirate attacks, duels, buried treasure, or extortion of prisoners, his illustrations, with few exceptions, have inspired imitation and homage. I quibble here: the lantern would historically have been astern of the flagstaff, outboard of the hull, the other inboard.
Or perhaps he has been caught off guard, or has been asked a stupid question. A ratty kerchief is tied around his neck rather than a cravat, and he wears a crimson just-au-corps, waistcoat, and long swashbuckling sash.
Pirates wore shoes and stockings or, especially if poor, went barefooted. A short-barreled pistol is stuffed into the sash, and Keitt holds a speaking trumpet in his hand, perhaps with which to verbally abuse those victims doubtless left behind on the burning, sinking ship — he surely no longer has any need of the trumpet for hailing. Perhaps he uses it to bellow at his crew rather than pass orders via his subordinate officers.
There is a somber aspect to the painting: those aboard The Sun of the East who did not perish in the battle and boarding action have surely been left to the severe mercy of the sea. Foremost, he intends to evoke the novel and its hero, rather than portray them with complete historical accuracy. Further, Sabatini himself occasionally misuses terms for period dress, for example writing doublet when clearly he intends the just-au-corps, the long coat worn in the s and after.
