The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane Washington, D.C. The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane (1858) is a painting by American artist John Quidor, depicting a scene from Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". The painting is one of several by the artist based on scenes from Irving's written works about Dutch New York, including such paintings as "Ichabod Crane Flying from the Headless Horseman" (1828) and "The Return of Rip Van Winkle" (1849). Quidor first exhibited the picture at the National Academy of Design in New York City. It is currently displayed in the Smithsonian American Art
Ichabod Crane outshine Brom's. After the party breaks up, Ichabod remains behind for "a tête-à-tête with the heiress," where it is supposed that he makes a proposal of marriage to Katrina but, according to the narrator, "Something, however ... must have gone wrong, for he certainly sallied forth, after no very great interval, with an air quite desolate and chapfallen," meaning that his proposal is refused, allegedly because her sole purpose in courting him was either to test or to increase Brom's desire for her. Therefore Ichabod leaves the house "with the air of one who had been sacking a henroost, rather