Howard Pyle: Line and added color, Harper's, 1900

The original illustrations for this story which appeared in the December 1900 issue of Harper’s Monthly Magazine were painted in oil on mahogany panels. This darkened them too much for proper reproduction. Pyle was then obliged to redo all of them. I believe he first drew in black ink as he normally did his black and two-color work and then added watercolor on top of the ink when it had dried.

The title of the work is The Pilgrimage of Truth by Erik Bøgh and translated from the original Danish by none other than Jacob Riis, who became famous as a writer and social activist, whose book How the Other Half Lives was first published by Scribner’s in 1890.

Five of the illustrations follow. Click on each image to enlarge.

The story is about a mystical creature, Truth, who descends from heaven and meets a king who proclaims truth to be that which he decrees. Then she confronts priests who only say they know what truth is so they can influence their followers; later a politician who carefully uses only that much of truth than can be useful to him.

At last she meets a fool who says she is his wife and a fool as well to protect her from those who wish to silence her by killing her.

Next: Howard Pyle's Spirituality