The Last of the Mohicans 28 (Original)

Artist: Cecil Doughty
Medium: Pen & Ink on Board
Size: 14" x 18" (350mm x 460mm)
Date: 1980
Code: DoughtyLOM28

This is the unique original Pen & Ink drawing by Cecil Doughty.

This is the original pen and ink drawing for a full page of the adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's classic western tale The Last of the Mohicans. Redcoats, Huron Indians, romance and intrigue set during the French and Indian War in 1757.

Originally drawn by Doughty in 1980 it was reproduced as part of a 32 page story in Look and Learn. It has recently been reprinted in a special edition published by Book Palace Books in 2014. This is exquisite detailed pen and ink work by Doughty who excelled in historical storytelling.

The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 (1826) is an historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. The Pathfinder, published 14 years later in 1840, is its sequel. The Last of the Mohicans is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America. During this war, both the French and the British used Native American allies, but the French were particularly dependent, as they were outnumbered in the Northeast frontier areas by the more numerous British colonists.

According to the Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, the novel has been one of the "most popular novels in English" since its publication and it remains "widely read in American literature courses". It has been adapted numerous times and in different languages for films, TV movies and cartoons.

Cooper set this novel during the Seven Years' War, an international conflict between Great Britain and France which had a front in North America. Also known on that continent as the French and Indian War, the conflict arrayed British colonial settlers and minimal regular forces against royal French forces, with both sides also relying on Native American allies. The war was fought primarily along the frontiers of the British colonies from Virginia to Nova Scotia.

In the Spring of 1757, Lieutenant Colonel George Monro became garrison commander of Fort William Henry, located on Lake George (New York) in the Province of New York. In early August, Major General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and 7,000 troops besieged the fort. On 2 August General Webb, who commanded the area from his base at Fort Edward, sent 200 regulars and 800 Massachusetts militia to reinforce the garrison at William Henry. In the novel, this is the relief column with which Monro's daughters travel.

Monro sent messengers south to Fort Edward on 3 August requesting reinforcements, but Webb refused to send any of his estimated 1,600 men north because they were all that stood between the French and Albany. He wrote to Munro on 4 August that he should negotiate the best terms possible; this communication was intercepted and delivered to Montcalm. In Cooper's version, the missive was being carried by Hawkeye when he, and it, fell into French hands.

On 7 August Montcalm sent men to the fort under a truce flag to deliver Webb's dispatch. By then the fort's walls had been breached, many of its guns were useless, and the garrison had taken significant casualties. After another day of bombardment by the French, Monro raised the white flag and agreed to withdraw under parley.

When the withdrawal began, some of Montcalm's Indian allies, angered at the lost opportunity for loot, attacked the British column. Cooper's account of the attack and aftermath is lurid and somewhat inaccurate. A detailed reconstruction of the action and its aftermath indicates that the final tally of British missing and dead ranges from 69 to 184;[ more than 500 British were taken captive.

• Artist Biography
  Cecil Langley Doughty (7 November 1913 - 26 October 1985; Withernsea, Yorkshire, UK)
  C L Doughty was one of the most prolific and successful historical illustrators to work on Look and Learn and other weekly educational papers. He produced several thousand illustrations between 1961 and 1982, his output astonishing in both quantity and quality.
  
  Doughty was born in Withernsea, Yorkshire and trained at Battersea Polytechnic, London. His earliest comic strip was a two-page Buffalo Bill adventure which appeared in Knockout in July 1948. Doughty produced strips for Phillip Marx's Star Flash Comic and Challenger Comic in 1948, followed by the cover and interior art for an adaptation of 'Oliver Twist' for the first issue of A Classic in Pictures (1949). 'Lorna Doone' followed soon after (in issue 8) before Doughty returned to the Amalgamated Press, drawing 'Terry Brent', a spot-the-clue detective series for School Friend.
  
  Doughty found his metier when he began drawing for Thriller Comics, the 64-page pocket library edited by Leonard Matthews. His first tale was an adaptation of W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle (1953) followed by a variety of stories featuring Robin Hood and Dick Turpin.
  
  Critic David Ashford, a long-time fan of Doughty's work, has said: “Turpin's comrades were beautifully realised by Doughty. Based, as they are, on R. H. Brock's drawings for the Newnes pocket book series of the 1930s, all the varied personalities came to life – among them, the elegant “gentleman highwayman” Tom King, the swaggering Irishman, Pat O'Flynn and, perhaps best of all, the humorous character Jem Peters, he of the mutton chop whiskers. All are portrayed with obvious affection and enormous gusto. Strongly influenced not only by the Brock brothers but by other 19th century artists of 18th century subjects such as Hugh Thomson, Doughty's style is, I think, best expressed in the one word, “debonair”. There is a certain way in which his leading characters stand, move and tilt their head which is peculiar to Doughty. It is a style which is ideal for these historical entertainments and strongly reminiscent at times of Douglas Fairbanks at his swashbuckling best.”
  
  Doughty's ability was often overlooked in the 1950s, his only full page painting appearing on the rear cover of an issue of Comet in 1958. He worked briefly for Express Weekly (1957-58) and for eight months took over the artwork for 'Jack O'Lantern', a historical adventure strip in Eagle (1959-60).
  
  In 1962, Doughty began producing illustrations in colour and black & white for Look and Learn. Doughty occasionally wrote his own scripts for the series on 'Famous Houses' that appeared on the centre pages of in early issues.
  
  When Look and Learn closed in April 1982, Doughty decided to retire from commercial artwork and concentrate on landscapes. Already in his late sixties, he held an exhibition of his 'straight' work in Carmarthen, where he was then living. He also took on commissions and produced some magnificent paintings for fans.
  
  In 1985, Doughty moved to a dilapidated cottage with a splendid studio, but died shortly after, aged 71. An extensive biography and gallery of Doughty's Look and Learn work appeared in a 2012 book entitled Pages From History.