On exhibit: 'Howard Pyle' at Norman Rockwell Museum

Consider such popular culture hits as HBO's medieval fantasy series "Game of Thrones" and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie franchise.

The exhibition goes as far as saying, Prior to his work, there was very little visual information regarding actual pirate clothing.

The 1905 illustration "The Buccaneer Was a Picturesque Fellow," from Harper's Monthly, shows a rakish swashbuckler that mixes an easy-going attitude — with his hip bent, long dark hair and sandals — and emblems of violence — a rifle resting on a shoulder, a sword dangling at his side and a pistol slid through his belt and against his belly.

Other pirate-themed works of note include 1900's "The Flying Dutchman," from Collier's Weekly, in which a red-eyed scowl on one fellow and the elongated forms of others in the foreground emphasize their fate — to remain at sea forever — and a painting from 1909 called "Marooned," which wasn't used as an illustration, in which a lone pirate sits in a barren landscape, with only the barest hint of waves splashing far in the background.

An interesting addition at the Norman Rockwell Museum is a room dedicated to another aspect of Pyle's career, that of teacher.