2000
Pirates Picnic Ashore
FES Title: Pirates Picnic Ashore
Alternate Titles:
Date: 07/1934
Size: 108.5″H x 66.75″W
Medium: oil-Belgian-Linen
Type: subject painting
Published: Schoonover, Cortlandt. Frank Schoonover, Illustrator of the North American Frontier. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1976: 144-145.
caption: Pirate’s Picnic Ashore

Cordingly, David, ed. Pirates: Terror on the High Seas from the Caribbean to the South China Sea, edited by . Atlanta: Turner Publishing Inc., 1996: 65.
caption: According to Dampier’s journal, the buccaneer Captain Swan abandoned himself to a life of pleasure after crossing the Pacific and encountering the women of the Philippines. On the island of Mindanao he was entertained by a continuous round of feasts and dancing girls. A similar scene–and the dream of most buccaneers–is conjured up in this mural by Frank Schoonover.

Peltier, Melissa Jo, Jim Milo, Patrick Tull, and MPH Entertainment. Blackbeard’s Reign of Terror. Sea Tales.

[S.l.]: A & E Home Video, 1997.

History Channel (Television network), Arts and Entertainment Network, New Video Group, and A & E Home Video (Firm). The Real Robinson Crusoe. In Search of History. New York: A & E Home Video, 1998.

Le Bris, Michel and Virginie Serna. Pirates & Flibustiers des Caraibes. Paris: Hoebeke, 2001: 85.
caption: Frank Schoonover, Pirate’s Picnic Ashore (Pique-nique des pirates a terre). Fresque murale pour la demeure d’Irenee du Pont a Cardenas, Cuba, 1934.

Williams, Anne D. “Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces: Personalized du Pont Gifts.” Game and Puzzle Collectors Quarterly. March 2002: 14-15.
caption: Figure 1. “Pirates Celebrate Ashore” is the subject of this picture by Frank E. Schoonover. (Note the “I S T” in the line between sea and the “O G U” at the dancers feet, from Figure 2)

Inscription: lr: Frank E. Schoonover / ’34
Annotations:
Exhibitions:
Comments: TP of print; color negative; index
Commentary: This work was one of two large paintings commissioned by Irénée duPont in 1933 for his home, Xanadu, at Varadero Beach, Cuba. In preparation for his work, Schoonover joined Mr. duPont on a voyage to Cuba in 1931 to see the estate. The artist records his activities and reactions in his diaries. He worked on the two commissions after he returned to his studio.
The paintings were completed and hung in 1931. In 1959, when Fidel Castro came into power, the Cuban government appropriated the property, including the two paintings. As recently as 2003, visitors to Xanadu have seen both paintings hanging in the house.
Brown and Bigalow first reproduced this work as a print. Irénée duPont Sr. had the image reproduced, made into a puzzle, and sent as a boxed Christmas card/gift with the words “Merry Christmas from Granogue” imprinted on the puzzle image. Mr. duPont related the following amusing anecdote. “One recipient, who was short of a holiday gift at the last moment, passed the puzzle on as a present to someone else. That person knew the duPonts and recognized the puzzle’s origins. When the story got back to the duPont family, it generated considerable amusement.” (Williams, Anne D. Game and Puzzle Collectors Quarterly. March 2002: 14-15.)
For further commentary, see #2001.
Provenance: Commissioned by Irenee duPont, Wilmington, Delaware [1934]; appropriated by the Cuban government [1959]