Editing Howard Pyle (section)

==Life==
[[File:Bunker Hill by Pyle.jpg|thumb|left|''The Battle of Bunker Hill'', Howard Pyle, 1897, showing the second British advance up [[Battle of Bunker Hill|Breed's Hill]].  This painting's whereabouts are unknown as it was probably stolen from the [[Delaware Art Museum]] in 2001.<ref name="Fishman 2014">{{cite news |last=Fishman |first=Margie |title=First painting auctioned by museum could bring $13.4 million |location=Wilmington, DE, US|website=The News Journal |date=2014-05-18 |url=https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2014/05/17/first-painting-auctioned-museum-bring-m/9233453/ |access-date=2021-11-24}}</ref>]]

Pyle was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the son of William Pyle and Margaret Churchman Painter. As a child, he attended private schools<ref>{{cite book|author1=Willard S. Morse|author2=Gertrude Brinckle|title=Howard Pyle: A Record of His Illustrations and Writings|url=https://archive.org/details/howardpyleareco00morsgoog|year=1921|publisher=Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts|location=Wilmington, Delaware|page=v}}</ref> and was interested in drawing and writing from a very young age. He was an indifferent student, but his parents encouraged him to study art, particularly his mother.<ref name="Abbott 1935">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Abbott |first=Charles David <!--Identified as CDA on p. 390; full name at p. vii--> |title=Howard Pyle |editor-first=Dumas |editor-last=Malone |editor-link=Dumas Malone |encyclopedia=Dictionary of American Biography |volume=V. 15 |year=1935 |oclc=1256465953 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer019330mbp/page/287/mode/1up |pages=287–290}}</ref> He studied for three years at the studio of F. A. Van der Wielen in Philadelphia,<ref name="TCLC">{{citation
  | last =Baise | first =Jennifer
  | title =Twentieth Century Literary Criticism
  | volume = 81
  | publisher =Gale
  | year = 1999
  | type =print
 }}</ref> and this constituted the whole of his artistic training, aside from a few lessons at the [[Art Students League of New York]].<ref name="Abbott 1935"/>

In 1876, he visited the island of [[Chincoteague, Virginia|Chincoteague]] off Virginia and was inspired by what he saw. He wrote and illustrated an article about the island and submitted it to ''[[Scribner's Monthly]]''. One of the magazine's owners was Roswell Smith, who encouraged him to move to New York and pursue illustration professionally.<ref name="Abbott 1935"/> Pyle initially struggled in New York; his lack of professional experience made it difficult for him to translate his ideas into forms for publication. He was encouraged by several working artists, however, including [[Edwin Austin Abbey]], [[A. B. Frost]], and [[Frederick S. Church]].

[[File:Pyle-The Battle of Nashville-After-Restoration - 50862051112.jpg|thumb|The Battle of Nashville, c. 1906, Governor’s Reception Room at the Minnesota State Capitol]]

He finally published a double-paged spread in the ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' issue of March 9, 1878 and was paid $75—five times what he had expected.<ref name="TCLC"/> He became increasingly successful and was an established artist by the time that he returned to Wilmington in 1880.<ref name="Abbott 1935"/> Pyle continued illustrating for magazines. He also collaborated on several books, particularly in American history. He wrote and illustrated his own stories, beginning with ''The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood'' in 1883. This book won international attention from critics such as [[William Morris]].<ref name="Abbott 1935"/> Over the following decades, he published many more illustrated works for children, many of which are still in print today.

Pyle married singer Anne Poole on April 12, 1881, and the couple had seven children.<ref name="TCLC"/> In 1889, he and his wife sailed to Jamaica, leaving their children in the care of relatives. While they were overseas, their son Sellers died unexpectedly. This loss likely inspired his children's book ''The Garden Behind the Moon'', which is about death and bears the dedication: "To the little Boy in the  Moon Garden This Book is dedicated by His Father."<ref name="TCLC"/><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/gardenbehindmoo01pylegoog/page/n12 |title = The Garden Behind the Moon|publisher = C. Scribner's Sons|year = 1895}}</ref>

From 1894 to 1900, he taught illustration at the Drexel Institute. In 1900, he created his own school in Wilmington where he taught a small number of students in depth. In 1903, Pyle painted his first murals for the Delaware Art Museum. He took up mural painting more seriously in 1906 and painted ''The Battle of Nashville'' in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|Saint Paul]], as well as two other murals for courthouses in [[New Jersey]]<ref name="Abbott 1935"/> (the Essex and Hudson County Courthouses).

Pyle developed his own ideas for illustrating pirate dress, as few examples existed of authentic pirate outfits and few, if any, drawings had been preserved. He created a flamboyant style incorporating elements of [[Romani people|Romani]] dress. His work influenced the design of costumes for movie pirates from [[Errol Flynn]] to [[Johnny Depp]]. It has been noted as highly impractical for working sailors.<ref name="pirate"/>

In 1910, Pyle and his family went to [[Italy]] where he planned to study the [[old masters]]. Suffering poor health, he felt depressed and drained of energy. After one year in the country, he suffered a kidney infection and died in [[Florence]] at the age of 58.<ref name="Abbott 1935"/>

In 1937 his niece, Caroline Ashton Pyle, married his student [[N. C. Wyeth]]'s son [[Nathaniel Wyeth (inventor)|Nathaniel Convers Wyeth]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1937-01-25 |title=Milestones, Jan. 25, 1937 |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,770569,00.html |access-date=2023-02-16 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>