Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman

after William John Wilgus

National Gallery of Art

A headless rider holding up a pumpkin pursues a man clinging to the neck of a galloping white horse in this horizontal painting. The landscape around the pair has dark woods to each side and a twilight, azure-blue sky over a distant stone structure, perhaps a church, at the top center. To our left, the rider on the white horse is thin with a long, pale-skinned, cleanshaven face and high cheekbones. He holds one hand to his brown hair as he looks back, his eyes huge and mouth agape. His long black coat flaps behind him over a white cravat, cherry-red vest, black breeches, bright blue hose, and black shoes. The horse’s wide eyes also roll wildly back to look at the pursuer. The headless rider wears a ruby-red robe and brown hose. Pale-skinned hands hold up the round pumpkin. Both horses run with all four legs outstretched and tails flying over a flat bridge edged with a low fence on the side closer to us. The shadowy landscape presses in from both sides.