DOI issue:
Nr. 176 (October, 1911)
DOI article:Hoeber, Arthur: Edwin Austin Abbey, illustrator, painter, decorator
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43447#0334
Edwin Austin Abbey
brilliancy of the color schemes as well, a more ro-
mantic period, in short, with its Old-World back-
ground of moat and castle, with its gorgeous in-
teriors, its stately chambers and arras, with banners
flying and the pageantry and pomp of the ceremoni-
ous life of both nobility and gentry. His earlier
Shakespearean illustrations he later amplified and
expanded into important compositions, and to moyen
age themes he gave great charm of treatment, vari-
ety of color and a certain verisimilitude that made
them most entertaining. He painted the troubadour
singing his woeful ballad to his mistress’ eyebrow.
You saw her gracefully reclining under the trees
or walking majestically on some marble terrace, re-
splendent in handsome robe of rich texture, while
in the gardens were peacocks. All these he did al-
luringly, with a freedom not given to others of his
brethren in art who essay¬
ed similar themes. He was
most successful in portray¬
ing the beauty of woman¬
hood, giving the spiritual
side in some of his figures
in the Holy Grail composi-
tions, though more gener¬
ally his attention was di¬
rected to the more earthy,
physical attractiveness of
nineteenth-century feminin¬
ity, finding his models
among the English types,
and, as a famous writer
has said, “Among all the
beautiful things in the world
there are few so beautiful
as English girls.”
Says this same writer,
Richard Murther, the Ger¬
man art critic: “ English
painting is exclusively an
art based on luxury, optim¬
ism and aristocracy; in its
neatness, cleanliness and
good breeding it is exclu¬
sively designed to ingratiate
itself with English ideas of
comfort. . . . The pic¬
tures have to satisfy very
different tastes—the taste
of a wealthy middle class
which wishes to have sub¬
stantial nourishment, and
the esthetic tastes of an
elite class which will only
tolerate the quintessence of art, the most subtile
art that can be given. . . . Everything must
be kept within the bonds of what is charming,
temperate and prosperous, without in any degree
suggesting the struggle for existence.” Much of
this in a way one feels in the easel pictures of
Abbey’s later years. There was ever something
in his work suggestive of Alma-Tadema, Leighton
and Poynter, tempered as it were by a delight in
Albert Moore. But Abbey was more modern than
the first two of this group, broader in his rendering,
painting with a looser brush and using his pigment
more freely. Yet he may be said to have carried on
their traditions and, unlike most of his country-
men, he remained unmoved by the influences of
French art. A recent writer has said of Abbey that
he prevailed by frankly accepting the traditions of
Copyright, 1897, by Edwin A. Abbey
HAMLET
Copyright, 1898, by Curtis & Cameron
BY EDWIN A. ABBEY
LVII
brilliancy of the color schemes as well, a more ro-
mantic period, in short, with its Old-World back-
ground of moat and castle, with its gorgeous in-
teriors, its stately chambers and arras, with banners
flying and the pageantry and pomp of the ceremoni-
ous life of both nobility and gentry. His earlier
Shakespearean illustrations he later amplified and
expanded into important compositions, and to moyen
age themes he gave great charm of treatment, vari-
ety of color and a certain verisimilitude that made
them most entertaining. He painted the troubadour
singing his woeful ballad to his mistress’ eyebrow.
You saw her gracefully reclining under the trees
or walking majestically on some marble terrace, re-
splendent in handsome robe of rich texture, while
in the gardens were peacocks. All these he did al-
luringly, with a freedom not given to others of his
brethren in art who essay¬
ed similar themes. He was
most successful in portray¬
ing the beauty of woman¬
hood, giving the spiritual
side in some of his figures
in the Holy Grail composi-
tions, though more gener¬
ally his attention was di¬
rected to the more earthy,
physical attractiveness of
nineteenth-century feminin¬
ity, finding his models
among the English types,
and, as a famous writer
has said, “Among all the
beautiful things in the world
there are few so beautiful
as English girls.”
Says this same writer,
Richard Murther, the Ger¬
man art critic: “ English
painting is exclusively an
art based on luxury, optim¬
ism and aristocracy; in its
neatness, cleanliness and
good breeding it is exclu¬
sively designed to ingratiate
itself with English ideas of
comfort. . . . The pic¬
tures have to satisfy very
different tastes—the taste
of a wealthy middle class
which wishes to have sub¬
stantial nourishment, and
the esthetic tastes of an
elite class which will only
tolerate the quintessence of art, the most subtile
art that can be given. . . . Everything must
be kept within the bonds of what is charming,
temperate and prosperous, without in any degree
suggesting the struggle for existence.” Much of
this in a way one feels in the easel pictures of
Abbey’s later years. There was ever something
in his work suggestive of Alma-Tadema, Leighton
and Poynter, tempered as it were by a delight in
Albert Moore. But Abbey was more modern than
the first two of this group, broader in his rendering,
painting with a looser brush and using his pigment
more freely. Yet he may be said to have carried on
their traditions and, unlike most of his country-
men, he remained unmoved by the influences of
French art. A recent writer has said of Abbey that
he prevailed by frankly accepting the traditions of
Copyright, 1897, by Edwin A. Abbey
HAMLET
Copyright, 1898, by Curtis & Cameron
BY EDWIN A. ABBEY
LVII