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Edwin Austin Abbey | Pre-Raphaelite painter / Illustrator

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Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter🎨 and one of the foremost illustrators of his day.
While working as an illustrator for the publishing house of Harper and Brothers, New York City, Abbey began to create illustrations for the poems of Robert Herrick in 1874.
He went on to create illustrations for some of the works of Oliver Goldsmith and William Shakespeare🎨.


He moved to England in 1878, where he would remain for the rest of his life.
He was elected in 1883 to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours.
In 1884 Abbey turned to oil painting and specialized in large literary and historical works encompassing the various period revivals then in fashion: medieval, Shakespearean🎨, and 17th century.
He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1896 and an academician two years later.
He became a member of the National Academy of Design in 1902.
Abbey’s later works include decorative schemes for several public buildings, among them the state capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as well as the royal commission in 1902 to paint the coronation of King Edward VII of England.
A celebrated success in England, Abbey also maintained a prestigious reputation in the United States. | © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.




















Edwin Austin Abbey RA (1 aprile 1852-1 agosto 1911) è stato un muralista, illustratore e pittore Americano🎨.
Fiorì all'inizio di quella che ora viene definita l'"età d'oro" dell'illustrazione, ed è meglio conosciuto per i suoi disegni ed i dipinti di soggetti shakespeariani🎨 e vittoriani, nonché per la sua pittura della incoronazione di Edoardo VII.
Il suo set di murales più famoso, The Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail🎨, adorna la Biblioteca pubblica di Boston.
Fu un prolifico illustratore e l'attenzione ai dettagli, inclusa l'accuratezza storica, influenzò le successive generazioni dei illustratori.
Abbey fu eletto alla National Academy of Design, nel 1902, ed alla American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Era membro onorario della Royal Bavarian Society e della Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, e divenne cavaliere della Legione d'Onore francese.