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The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane

American Art Museum

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    Object Details

    Artist

    John Quidor, born Tappan, NY 1801-died Jersey City, NJ 1881

    Gallery Label

    Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" inspired Quidor to paint the climactic moment from this famous tale. Ichabod Crane is a prickly and stuck-up schoolmaster and a bumbling suitor for the lovely Katrina, who uses him to make her beau jealous. The pompous twit is no match for the clever locals, and he disappears, chased away by the headless horseman through a darkened wood. Irving's educated nitwit, strapping local boy and flirtatious beauty would reappear as folk characters throughout American literature in the nineteenth century.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

    Credit Line

    Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by the Catherine Walden Myer Endowment, the Julia D. Strong Endowment, and the Director's Discretionary Fund

    Date

    1858

    Object number

    1994.120

    Restrictions & Rights

    CC0

    Type

    Painting

    Medium

    oil on canvas

    Dimensions

    26 7/8 x 33 7/8 in. (68.3 x 86.1 cm.)

    See more items in

    Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

    Department

    Painting and Sculpture

    Data Source

    Smithsonian American Art Museum

    Topic

    Landscape\forest
    Landscape\time\evening
    Literature\Irving\Legend of Sleepy Hollow
    Literature\character\Icahabod Crane
    Literature\character\Headless Horseman
    Equestrian

    Metadata Usage

    CC0

    Link to Original Record

    http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk798aae900-38b2-4640-9763-07602df0a1f6

    Record ID

    saam_1994.120

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