"God's light! I'll question him: ay, and wring an answer from him if I have to put a length of whipcord round his temples! Now go your way," the governor informed him

The present work was used as an illustration for Rafael Sabatini's 1929 book, The Romantic Prince. Wyeth's career in literary illustration began when in 1911, Charles Scribner's Sons released Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island accompanied by illustrations produced by Wyeth that vivdly captured the classic tale. This early commission would begin a career of book illustrations that Wyeth would be responsible for over the next three decades. "His skill in projection--the heroic quality, rich color, and convincing interpretations in his paintings--made the characters living, breathing people who had really existed in the past." (D. Allen and D. Allen, Jr., N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals, New York, 1972, pp. 79-80)

Wyeth writes: "In my own life I try to live the life that I depict. Some may wonder how I can live the life of the 12th century, which most of my costumed romance represents. All I can say is that the elemental feelings of long ago are identical with our own. The costumes and accessories of the 12th century may be different, but the sunlight on a bronzed face, the winds that blow across the marshlands, the moon illuminating the old hamlets of medieval England, the rain-soaked travelers of King Arthur's day passing across the moors are strictly contemporaneous in feeling." (N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals, New York, 1972, p. 80)


This work is included in the N.C. Wyeth catalogue raisonné database that is being compiled by the Brandywine River Museum and Conservancy, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.