Headless Horseman

Artist William Gropper (American, 1897 - 1977)

Dateca. 1946

MediumLithograph on paper

DimensionsPlate: 13 1/16 × 9 inches (33.17 × 22.86 cm)
Sheet: 15 7/8 × 12 inches (40.31 × 30.48 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Mrs. Peter T. Bohan

Object numberF83-30/8

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William Gropper loved American folklore and greatly admired Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Ichabod Crane, a schoolteacher in the classic tale, meets the ghost of a soldier on a deserted country lane at midnight. Irving describes the encounter:

He appeared to be a horseman of large dimensions, and mounted on a black horse of powerful frame. . . . Ichabod was horrorstruck on perceiving that he was headless! But his horror was still more increased on observing that the stranger’s head was carried before him on the pommel of the saddle.

Compared to Irving’s description of the Headless Horseman, what details does Gropper alter for his print? Why do you think he does so?

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