page_title: Edwin Austin Abbey
section_title: Pennsylvania State Capitol
hierarchical_section_title: Edwin Austin Abbey / Biography / Pennsylvania State Capitol
caption_attribution_description: Panorama of the lunettes in the dome of the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
context_page_description: Edwin Austin Abbey RA was an American muralist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the "golden age" of illustration, and is best known for his drawings and paintings of Shakespearean and Victorian subjects, as well as for his painting of Edward VII's coronation. His most famous set of murals, The Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail, adorns the Boston Public Library.
context_section_description: In 1908–09, Abbey began an ambitious program of murals and other artworks for the newly completed Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. These included allegorical medallion murals representing Science, Art, Justice, and Religion for the dome of the Rotunda, four large lunette murals beneath the dome, and multiple works for the House and Senate Chambers. For the Senate chamber he finished only one painting, Von Steuben Training the American Soldiers at Valley Forge, and he was working on the Reading of the Declaration of Independence mural in early 1911, when his health began to fail. He was diagnosed with cancer. Studio assistant William Simmonds continued work on the mural with little supervision from Abbey, and with small contributions by John Singer Sergeant.
  Abbey died in August 1911. William Simmonds travelled from England to install the completed murals with Abbey's widow Gertrude.  The remaining two rooms, which Abbey had been unable to finish, were given to Violet Oakley, who completed the commission using her own designs.
caption: Lunette and medallion murals (1908-11), Pennsylvania State Capitol Rotunda. Left to right: The Spirit of Vulcan, Science, The Spirit of Religious Liberty, Art, The Spirit of Light.
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