Illustrator. He was known as the "Father of American Illustration", publishing and illustrating many books of fairy tales, fables and children's stories. Born into a Delaware Quaker family, he abandoned his Quaker way-of-life, which was against his parent's approval, for the life of an artist. At the age of sixteen, he left school to begin a three-year daily commute to Philadelphia, studying under F.A. Van der Wielan, a Belgian artist. Later, he studied art at the Art League in New York City and was inspired by German artist Albrecht Dürer. In 1894, he founded the first school of illustration at the newly founded Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; on his own pastoral setting, started the Howard Pyle School of Art in Delaware; and on scholarships, held classes for his most talented students in the summers at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. To earn an income, he published 99 illustrations in 1884, yet he never accepted money for his teaching. His nearly 200 students became to be known as the Brandywine School, with nearly half receiving international notoriety of their own. This group included N. C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Thornton Oakley, Allen Tupper True, Stanley Arthur, and several other well-known illustrators. While in New York City, he was commissioned to illustrate for "Century Magazine," "Collier's," "Everybody's Magazine," "Harper's Weekly," "Harper's Monthly," "Cosmopolitan," "Ladies' Home Journal" and "McClure's Magazine." His illustrated books included "The Story of King Arthur and his Knights," "Men of Iron," and posthumously published "Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates." Considered his most-famous work was his 1883 "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood." He often drew for Revolutionary War stories. His magazine and book illustrations are among the finest of the turn-of-the-century period in the Art Nouveau style. He also imaged prints, posters, banners and much of his works are on display in art museums and image archives worldwide. He married and the couple had seven children. He authored his own folktales with illustrations, "Pepper & Salt" in 1886, "The Wonder Clock" in 1888, and during his grief of his son dying, "The Garden Behind the Moon" in 1895. He was an accomplished muralist. With murals being desired for public buildings in this era, his first mural commission was in 1906 with "The Battle of Nashville" for the governor's reception room in the Minnesota State Capitol. This followed with Essex County Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey in 1907 and the Hudson County Courthouse in Jersey City, New Jersey, which included five panels of historical subjects. While studying art on a European tour, he died in Italy of an acute onset of renal failure at age 58. He left unfinished on his easel the painting, "The Mermaid," which was eventually finished by one of his former students, Frank Schoonover, and is on displayed at the Delaware Art Museum, which houses the largest collection of his work. He was one of the founding members of the Delaware Art Museum, which opened in 1912 after his death.