The Wreck of the "Covenant"
It was the spare yard I had got hold of, and I was amazed to see how far I had travelled from the brig

N. C. Wyeth had the masterly ability to ferret out the most dramatic turns of a story, and then translate the verbal into the pictorial with a focused intensity. In Kidnapped, Stevenson describes how the sea sweeps David Balfour away from the Covenant; Wyeth twists the boy’s body toward the floundering brig, focusing the viewer’s attention on the drama of a shipwreck at sea. The contrast of the dark water and ship with the brilliant white spray rivets the eye and mind on the impending disaster, heightening the level of suspense.

Wyeth was a great admirer of Winslow Homer, who died in 1910. With its broadly brushed seascape, the artist took his inspiration from Homer and paid tribute to the recently deceased American master.