If the Delaware Art Museum has a signature painting, surely it is Howard Pyle’s “Marooned.” A native of this city, Pyle is justly remembered as the father of American illustration. His “Marooned” (1909) is an image of genuine drama and distress. It shows a pirate near death, curled up on a sand bar, a tiny figure enveloped by a burning yellow sky.

The painting refers to the old custom of punishing insubordinates by shoving them off a ship and onto an island. But these days, you can also view “Marooned” as a curiously precise description of the Delaware Art Museum.