Why then begin..., illustration to "A Bucolick or Discourse of Neatherds"
Abbey here represents two cowherds (or neatherds) engaged in a musical competition. One sits on the ground and plays his recorder while the other waits to follow with a song. Lallager, a woman herder ensconced on a rustic stile, acts a judge.
In 1878, Harper & Brother sent Abbey to England to research and illustrate verses by the seventeeth-century lyric poet Robert Herrick. Wood engravings based on the artist's drawings began to appear in Harper's "New Monthly Magazine" later that year, and a group were then published in "Selections from the Poetry of Robert Herrick" (New York and London, 1882; MMA 23.78). This design responds to Herrick's "Bucolick, or Discourse of Neatherds," with the related series of illustrations found in the book.
In 1878, Harper & Brother sent Abbey to England to research and illustrate verses by the seventeeth-century lyric poet Robert Herrick. Wood engravings based on the artist's drawings began to appear in Harper's "New Monthly Magazine" later that year, and a group were then published in "Selections from the Poetry of Robert Herrick" (New York and London, 1882; MMA 23.78). This design responds to Herrick's "Bucolick, or Discourse of Neatherds," with the related series of illustrations found in the book.
Artwork Details
- Title: Why then begin..., illustration to "A Bucolick or Discourse of Neatherds"
- Artist: Edwin Austin Abbey (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1852–1911 London)
- Author: Related author Robert Herrick (British, Cheapside London 1591–1674 Devon)
- Date: ca. 1880
- Medium: Pen and ink
- Dimensions: sheet: 16 7/16 x 10 7/8 in. (41.8 x 27.6 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1912, transferred from American
- Object Number: 12.172
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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