The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane

John Quidor, The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane, 1858, oil on canvas, 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, 1994.120
John Quidor, The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane, 1858, oil on canvas, 26 7⁄8 x 33 7⁄8 in. (68.3 x 86.1 cm.), 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, 1994.120
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Artwork Details

Title
The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane
Artist
Date
1858
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
26 7⁄8 x 33 7⁄8 in. (68.3 x 86.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible in part by the Catherine Walden Myer Endowment, the Julia D. Strong Endowment, and the Director’s Discretionary Fund
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Equestrian
  • Literature — character — Headless Horseman
  • Literature — character — Icahabod Crane
  • Literature — Irving — Legend of Sleepy Hollow
  • Landscape — time — evening
  • Landscape — forest
Object Number
1994.120
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1994.120

Artwork Description

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

Works by this artist (7 items)

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John Von Wicht, Black and White, stencil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Woodward Foundation, 1977.48.35
Black and White
Artist
stencil
Not on view
Image Not Available
November
Artist
Date1964
color stencil cut
Not on view
John Von Wicht, Baroque, 1961, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 1969.47.46
Baroque
Artist
Date1961
oil on canvas
Not on view
John Von Wicht, Violet Red Black, 1966, stencil cut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1967.25.2
Violet Red Black
Artist
Date1966
stencil cut on paper
Not on view

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Robert Longo, Untitled (Hercules), 2008, charcoal on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2009.1, © 2008, Robert Longo and Metro Pictures
Untitled (Hercules)
Artist
Date2008
charcoal on paper
Not on view
Mark Leithauser, Gorillas, from Lettered Creatures, 2002-2003, pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Hakuta Family in honor of Elizabeth Broun, 2016.52.1.10
Gorillas, from Lettered Creatures
Artist
Date2002-2003
pencil on paper
Not on view
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Hiroshima, 2001, mixed media on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Ford Motor Company, 2008.32.3
Hiroshima
Artist
Date2001
mixed media on paper
Not on view
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Cemetery, Tule Lake, 2002, mixed media on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Ford Motor Company, 2008.32.2
Cemetery, Tule Lake
Artist
Date2002
mixed media on paper
Not on view