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Historical Artist - Edward Austin Abbey (1852 - 1911)
Although born in America, Edwin Austin Abbey received most of his success in England working as
an illustrator, painter, and etcher. He was known for his historical scenes and murals done for
public commissions. The latter of these included a mural done for the Boston Public Library that
depicted the search for the Holy Grail and a painting produced for the coronation of Edward VII
in 1902. Probably his finest works, Abbey’s illustrations were regularly seen in
Harper’s Weekly. Abbey remained an American citizen but spent the majority of his life at
his residence in Gloucestershire.
Edwin Austin Abbey, born in Philadelphia, began his training as an artist under Isaac Williams,
a portrait and landscape painter who had studied with John Neagle and Christian Schussele, a
German-born history painter. By the age of fourteen he had moved to New York, taking a full-time
position drawing for Harper and Brothers, the publisher of a news weekly, a literary monthly,
and books. In 1878, Harper's sent him to England to do background research for an
edition of Robert Herrick's poetry. Every year thereafter he made trips to the Continent or
England, where he finally settled in 1882, an expatriate at the age of thirty. Several
years later he moved to Gloucestershire, where he became friendly with Frank Millet, Lawrence
Alma-Tadema, one of England's great painters of historic subjects, Frederick Barnard, and John
Singer Sargent.
The principle monuments of his career are his murals, Quest for the Holy Grail
(1890-1902, Boston Public Library), The Coronation of Edward VII
(1902-1904, Buckingham Palace), and the decorations of the Pennsylvania State
Capitol in Harrisburg which, unfinished at his death in 1911, were completed by
Sargent. Two of his principal oil paintings were May Day Morning (1890, Yale
University Art Gallery), his well-received first Royal Academy entry, and Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, and the Lady Anne (1896, Yale University Art Gallery), which was
based on a scene in Shakespeare's Richard III.
The Lady Anne was painted in 1899, several years after the major painting,
Richard, Duke of Gloucester and the Lady Anne was exhibited at the Royal Academy.
The Lady Anne cannot, therefore, be called a study for the larger painting, but
might more aptly be termed an "afterthought," or a kind of remarque.
A major portion of his career was spent in the fulfillment of illustration and mural
commissions. He was fascinated by medieval England and English literature, and was lucky to have
an equally interested public. Because of his affiliation with Harper's, Abbey's audience was
large.
Abbey's career was driven more by his imagination of historic events than by his direct
observation of the light and life around him, for he surely had sufficient ability to place him
among the best of his contemporaries. In choosing to be an illustrator of medieval life he
satisfied a personal and public interest, rather than breaking new ground as an observer or
technician.
Contemporary American Artists
Art Galleries in the United States of America
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