William J. Aylward – 2

Photos of Aylward are extremely scarce. This is a young Bill Aylward seated on the grass next to Anna Whelen Betts at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1903. Standing directly behind them is their teacher Howard Pyle. Clifford Ashley is at the top, right. This is a portion of a photograph which appears in Henry Pitz's great book "The Brandywine Tradition," published in 1968 by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, copyright 1968 by Henry C. Pitz.

"Contrasts," from Scribner's Monthly Magazine for March 1905. Aylward must have painted this just after he went out on his own after leaving Pyle's studio.

These are more than illustrations. They are marine paintings and they are as good as they get. A lot of illustrators have tried to work these subjects but so many of the results look about as real as the ship models they use in battle scenes for period-piece movies. Click on each of them for an enlarged image. This is "The Evacuation of Boston," for which I do not have a date or a publication so I'll speculate that it was part of the group shown below which appeared in and Harper's Monthly Magazine within a few years of the others.

"The 'Chesapeake's' Mizzentop During the Battle." From Harper's Monthly Magazine for March 1912.

"The Surrender of the 'Guerriere'." From Harper's Monthly Magazine for March 1912.

"Perry Transferring His Flag from the 'Lawrence'." From Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1913.

"The 'Niagara' Raking the 'Detroit' and the 'Queen Charlotte'." From Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1913.

Comments

[Robin Murphy]

I have an old painting that has been in the family for about 40 years. It is a painting of the USS Constitution on the back of the painting there is a tag with the following information:

William J. Alyward
(Contemporary American)
U.S.S. Constitution
Designer: Joshua Humphreys
Builder: Colonel George Claghorn, Boston
(Oil on canvas, 24"x32" 61x81.3cm)
Private Collection

I was wondering if this was possibly an original or a print.
Thank You,
Robin Murphy