Elegant pen work of Edwin Austin Abbey

Edwin Austin Abbey submitted pen and ink drawings to Harper & Brothers for two years before they bought one. That lead to 18 year-old Abbey joining Harper’s art department to work on Harper’s Weekly and Harper’s The Monthly Magazine.

Abbey quickly established himself as a masterful pen and ink artist. He soon left Harper’s to become a freelancer but continued to take assignments from them, grateful for the opportunity they gave him.

A trip to England turned Abbey into a proud anglophile. And when he married, he and his bride moved to England permanently. During this period Abbey changed his medium from pen and ink to oil. He was hugely successful as a painter and muralist on both sides of the Atlantic. His work was detailed and lush and includes a portrait of King Edward II’s 1902 coronation that now hangs in Buckingham Palace, and his series of murals,The Quest for the Holy Grail, for the Boston Public Library.

Interest in Abbey’s oils and murals have obscured attention to his exquisite pen and ink drawings. Here is a small sampling of this early work.