Alarums and Excursions

About the Artwork

Alarums and Excursions is one of nineteen illustrations the young Maxfield Parrish created for Kenneth Grahame’s The Golden Age, a children’s book published in 1899. In the chapter Alarums accompanies, the narrator persuades a friend to join him in a make-believe of Arthurian legends. Parrish depicted one of the boys in the midst of their playful fantasy, as he prepares to strike an enormous, coiled serpent. Parrish rendered the scene in crisp detail, using flat, delicate washes of monochrome ink, strong linear contours, and scintillating pricks of white gouache on the boy’s chainmail. Parrish’s designs found mainstream success in a variety of print media, making him one of the best-known illustrators of the 20th century.

Inscriptions

signed in image, lower right, in black watercolor: M . P; lower left, by artist, across bottom margin, in graphite: "Alarums and Excursions." . . . Once again were damsels rescued, dragons / disembowelled, and giants . . . etc.; verso, by artist, in top half: no. 225 [inside a box] / Maxfield Parrish. / "The Oaks" / Windsor: Vermont. / June of 1899.; on fragment of old mount, now removed, in brown ink: Original pen + ink drawing by Maxfield Parrish. / Being one of the illustrations of "The Golden Age" / by Kenneth Grahame (John Lane Co. 1899); on fragment of old mount, now removed: B[ought?] of Frd'k Keppel Co. / 1899-$50-

Provenance

1899-?: (Frederick Keppel & Co., New York, NY.) ?-1940: James C. [1855-1931] and Alice W. [1862-1940] Parmelee, Cleveland, OH, bequest to The Cleveland Museum of Art. 1940-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.

Exhibition history

Maxfield Parrish, Master of Make-Believe. Brandywine Museum of Art (organizer) (May 31-September 2, 1974). America Draws. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1984-March 17, 1985). American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998). Maxfield Parrish: 1870-1966. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Museum of American Art (June 19-September 26, 1999). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 4-September 8, 2024).

Quick Overview

Artist: Maxfield Parrish (American, 1870–1966)
Date: 1899
Medium: brush and black and gray wash, with white gouache, over graphite, framing lines in pen and black ink
Dimensions: Image: 27.9 x 17.7 cm (11 x 6 15/16 in.); Sheet: 37.5 x 24.8 cm (14 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Bequest of James Parmelee
Accession no.: 1940.723

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.