Abbey, Edwin Austin (1852–1911)

US painter and illustrator who worked in both England and the USA. He was commissioned by Edward VII to paint the coronation 1902 and also decorated the Boston Public Library with a series of panels, The Quest of the Holy Grail. His illustrative style is at its most distinctive in delicate pen drawings for editions of Herrick, Goldsmith and Shakespeare, and in his work for Harper's Magazine.

Born in Philadelphia, Abbey was educated by private tutors and later studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1880 he moved to England. He was a member of the British Royal Academy, the US National Academy of Design, and received the French Legion of Honour.