Evening star., 1936-07-11
By Leila MechIin.

C8tQSIluc. " ~ tklS WOdA VI G0Wlu
A. Abbey. by whom also, In the w.
A. Clark collection, Is . painting Of
"Sylvia"-"daughter Of the Duke of
Milan, beloved OF Valentine" Both
Of these are notable canvases, Illus
trative, II you Hike, but illustrative In
the best sense Of the word, and su-
perbly painted.
The themes of both Of these paint
ings are to be found in plays by
Shakespeare, the former in his king
Henry VIII," and the latter In 1.-TWO
Gentlemen Of Verona" The scene Of
the trial, as described in act 2, scene
s, is o hall In Blackfriars. The King
Is seated on . platform to the left.
under the cloth Of state, with the
Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius sit
ting below him as judges. Here are
also the Archbishop of Canterbury |
and the Bishops of Lincoln, Ely, |
Rochester and Saint Asaph; vergers, |
scribes, knights and pages. On the
lowest step Of the throne kneels the
Queen, daughter of a King who for
40 years had been q queen, or long
had dreamd so," pleading her inno-
cency and devotion. Back Of her
stand her ladies-in-waiting.
The three prominent figures are
the King, sitting in grave attention
with head bent; Cardinal wolsey,
whose flowing robe of red gives key
note to the color scheme and whose
face Is stern and judicial, and the
Queen, IN robes Of white, resting her
right arm on the seat of q chair from
which she may have arisen. It Is
sumptuous scene, rich in color,
dramatic in effect. Standing before
this canvas one can almost hear the
words Of Catherine spoken with great
intensity:
"sir. I desire you, do me right and
justice;
And to bestow your pity on me, for
am q most poor woman and
stranger,
Born out Of your dominions, having
here
No Judge Indifferent, nor no more
assurance
OF equal friendship and preceding.
Alas sir,
In what have I offended you? What
cause
Hath my behaviour given to your dis
pleasure
That thus you would proceed to put
me of
And take your good grace from me?
Heaven witness,
I have been to you a true and humble
wife,
At all times to your will conformable
- When was the hour
I ever contradicted your desire,
Or made it not mine too? Or which
Of your friends
Have I not strove to love, although
knew
He were my enemy?
II you can report,
And prove it too, against mine honor
aught,
My bond to wedlock, or my love and
duty,
Against your sacred person, in Gods
name,
Turn me away, and let the foul'st
contempt
Shut door upon me, and so give me UP
To the sharpest kind of justice"
With wonderful vividness, Abbey
brings this scene before us in all its
solemnity and pathetic significance.
Put aside from the story it tells, the
event 1t commentaries and the scene
1t illustrates, this painting has dis
tinguished quality as a work of art.
1t is exceedingly well composed, it Is
splendid in color, 1t possesses unity
in effect-and, what Is more, one Is
not conscious either Of the medium
or Of self-consciousness on the part
Of the painter.
EDWIN E. ABBEY has three right
- full claims to fame-as an illustra-
tor, as an interpreter Of Shakespeare
and IS painter Of murals-among the
last the Holy Grail" series In the
Public Library Of Boston. Born In
Philadelphia in 1882, he studied in the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts,
and then went to New York, where he
obtained position as craftsman in
the publishing house of Harper & Bros.
That was the day of the wood block,
and Abbey was employed not only to
make original illustrative drawings on
paper but also on wood. On the art
staff Of Harper's in 1877 were not only
Abbey but Pyle, Frost. Reinhart, Mast
and w. A. Rogers-a fine group work
ing in close collaboration.
Abbey" says Rogers, was making
his first Herrick drawings them He
had never been in England, but he
seemed to know the England, and the
English, of Queen Anne's time by some
sure instinct.
There was never any one like Alb
bey; we all looked on him as something
apart. - One moment he was with
you, the next he walked with DR.. Gold
smith, or on the hills Of Devon with
Robert Herrick."
Another characteristic Of this artist,
according to Rogers, was his attention
to small matters OF costume, furniture
and little background accessories, with
out allowing these details to hamper
his Imagination" He had, 1t seems, an
infinite capacity for taking pains, cou-
pied with an ability to draw swiftly
and with unerring correctness. Henry
James, specializing on Abbey's gift as
pictorial story teller, once asked an
explanation Of how Abbey could ap-
parently observe, with such certainty
as his drawings witnessed, figures,
scenes, places that existed only in 'the
fairyland Of his fancy? Royal Cortis-
sosoz's reply Is, 'The poet In Abbey
brought forth the composition, but
once his images stepped into his mind
he saw them steadily and saw them
whole" This gives insight into the
way an imaginative artist works, and
yet may be able to keep his feet firmly
on facts, historical or otherwise.
Certainly Abbey made every effort
to be fully informed. When he was to
do the Herriok drawings he went to
England and studied English land