Biography of Edwin Austin Abbey


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Abbey, Edwin Austin, R. A., was born in 1852, and began his art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He stood in the foremost rank of painters of historical and subject pictures. All his works show his fine decorative instinct, and are painted with a rich, glowing palette. They are remarkable for the correctness of all archaeological detail. He acquired great fame as an illustrator of Shakespeare, whose plays also supplied him with the subjects for some of his most successful pictures. Principal works: "Richard III and Lady Anne," "King Lear's Daughters," "Hamlet," the decorative panels illustrating the "Quest of the Holy Grail," in the Boston Public Library, "Coronation of King Edward VII," "Columbus in the New World." Died, 1911.