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Source Description
<em>Alarums and Excursions</em> is one of nineteen illustrations the young Maxfield Parrish created for Kenneth Grahame’s <em>The Golden Age, </em>a children’s book published in 1899. In the chapter <em>Alarums </em>accompanies, the narrator persuades a friend to join him in a make-believe of Arthurian legends. Parrish depicted one of the boys in the midst of their playful fantasy, as he prepares to strike an enormous, coiled serpent. Parrish rendered the scene in crisp detail, using flat, delicate washes of monochrome ink, strong linear contours, and scintillating pricks of white gouache on the boy’s chainmail. Parrish’s designs found mainstream success in a variety of print media, making him one of the best-known illustrators of the 20th century.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
119922
label
Alarums and Excursions
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
119922
contentType
drawing
title
Alarums and Excursions
description
<em>Alarums and Excursions</em> is one of nineteen illustrations the young Maxfield Parrish created for Kenneth Grahame’s <em>The Golden Age, </em>a children’s book published in 1899. In the chapter <em>Alarums </em>accompanies, the narrator persuades a friend to join him in a make-believe of Arthurian legends. Parrish depicted one of the boys in the midst of their playful fantasy, as he prepares to strike an enormous, coiled serpent. Parrish rendered the scene in crisp detail, using flat, delicate washes of monochrome ink, strong linear contours, and scintillating pricks of white gouache on the boy’s chainmail. Parrish’s designs found mainstream success in a variety of print media, making him one of the best-known illustrators of the 20th century.
date
1899
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80015229
creators
4097
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Image: 27.9 x 17.7 cm (11 x 6 15/16 in.); Sheet: 37.5 x 24.8 cm (14 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.)
cul
America
accession
1940.723
Source extras
tec
brush and black and gray wash, with white gouache, over graphite, framing lines in pen and black ink
tombstone
The Golden Age: Alarums and Excursions, 1899. Maxfield Parrish (American, 1870–1966). Brush and black and gray wash, with white gouache, over graphite, framing lines in pen and black ink; image: 27.9 x 17.7 cm (11 x 6 15/16 in.); sheet: 37.5 x 24.8 cm (14 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of James Parmelee, 1940.723
series
The Golden Age
supportMaterials
description
beige wove paper
collection
DR - American 19th Century
inscriptions
inscription
signed in image, lower right, in black watercolor: M . P; lower left, by artist, across bottom margin, in graphite: "Alarums and Excursions." . . . Once again were damsels rescued, dragons / disembowelled, and giants . . . etc.; verso, by artist, in top half: no. 225 [inside a box] / Maxfield Parrish. / "The Oaks" / Windsor: Vermont. / June of 1899.; on fragment of old mount, now removed, in brown ink: Original pen + ink drawing by Maxfield Parrish. / Being one of the illustrations of "The Golden Age" / by Kenneth Grahame (John Lane Co. 1899); on fragment of old mount, now removed: B[ought?] of Frd'k Keppel Co. / 1899-$50-
didYouKnow
Parrish employs a technique called <em>sgraffito </em>(“to scratch”) on the serpent’s tongue, producing its mottled texture by scraping away the upper layer of paper.
citations
citation
Grahame, Kenneth. <em>The Golden Age</em>. John Lane Co.: London & New York [printed], 1899.
page_number
Reproduced: opp. p. 42 and in 1904 edition.
citation
Ludwig, Coy L.. “From Parlor Print to Museum: The Art of Maxfield Parrish.” <em>Art Journal </em>25, no. 2 (Winter 1965-1966): 143-146.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 143-144, fig 2.
citation
Ludwig, Coy L., Diane Casella Hines, Robert Fillie, and James Craig. <em>Maxfield Parrish</em>. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1973.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 28-29, 206; Reproduced: p. 32, fig. 20.
citation
Brandywine River Museum, and Maxfield Parrish. <em>Maxfield Parrish, Master of Make-Believe: An Exhibition, June 1 Through September 2, 1974</em>. 1974.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 40-41, no. 105
citation
Bharucha, Fershid and Rosalie Gomes. <em>Black & White: Being the Early Illustrations of Maxfield Parrish</em>. New York, NY: Thumbtack Books, 1982.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 85
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, Ohio: The Museum, 1991.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 138
citation
Yount, Sylvia, Mark Bockrath, Serena Rattazzi, Daniel Rosenfeld, and Maxfield Parrish. <em>Maxfield Parrish, 1870-1966</em>. New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1999.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 54, Reproduced: p. 56
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 92, p. 5, pp. 220-221; p. 296
citation
Dowd, Douglas Bevan, and Stephanie Haboush Plunkett. <em>Stick Figures: Drawing As a Human Practice.</em> St. Louis, Missouri: Spartan Holiday Books, 2018.
page_number
Reproduced: P. 140' fig. 77
citation
Montañés-lleras, Susana. “Fairy Tales and Fables: The transformation of illustration in the long 19th century.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 64, no. 1 (2024): 10-11.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 11
citation
Montañés-lleras, Susana. “Of Technology and Fantasy: fairy tales, fables, and the transformation of illustration in the long 19th century.” <em>Gramarye : The Journal of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy</em> 28 (Winter 2025): 51-65.
page_number
Reproduced p. 57, fig. 6, Mentioned: p. 60.
creditline
Bequest of James Parmelee
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:11:47.372000
sourceId
119922
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - American 19th Century
med
brush and black and gray wash, with white gouache, over graphite, framing lines in pen and black ink
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
b64dc738247a3b21