A Wounded Enemy by Howard Pyle

"A Wounded Enemy" by Howard Pyle portrays a haunting, moonlit scene on a calm river, where a canoe carries a man rowing solemnly in the stern, dressed in 18th-century attire, and a wounded woman lying still under a blanket in the bow. Set against a misty, forested shoreline with a distant church steeple, the painting captures the aftermath of the Battle of Oriskany, a brutal Revolutionary War clash in the Mohawk Valley where American Patriots and their allies faced off against British forces and Loyalists, resulting in heavy casualties. The muted grays and silvers of the palette, combined with impressionistic brushwork, evoke a mood of loss and quiet reflection.