Boston is rich with museums, but one of the city’s most important artwork cycles is on display in a library. The Boston Public Library’s former Book Delivery Room is distinctively adorned with 15 commissioned murals depicting the heroic Sir Galahad in an extended narrative titled “The Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail.”
The construction of this room, completed in 1895, features wooden paneling, green-flecked levanto marble doorway columns, a rouge antique marble fireplace, and a Venetian palazzo-inspired decorated ceiling. It is a befittingly noble setting for the presentation of the Arthurian legend. Now known as the Abbey Room, the room is named for the American artist Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911) who created the murals.
The American Anglophile
The Philadelphia-born Abbey started his career as a celebrated illustrator, achieving success before the age of 20. He worked for popular periodicals such as Harper’s Weekly and Scribner’s Magazine. Sent to England on an assignment, he eventually moved there in 1878. Abbey became acquainted with the first generation of Pre-Raphaelite artists and was soon accepted into their circle. As a long-standing anglophile, Abbey greatly admired this artistic movement and was especially inspired by its medieval and literary subjects: Arthurian tales were some of the most popular Pre-Raphaelite themes.
While living in England, Abbey became a valued member of the American expatriate artistic circle as well. Under the mentorship of his friend John Singer Sargent, who thought he was a “delightful, original genius,” Abbey began to pursue oil painting, which was considered a more prestigious medium, at the age of 40.
The Boston Public Library
Abbey is best-known for his historical illustrations and paintings that often feature Shakespearean and Arthurian subjects. “The Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail” at the Boston Public Library (BPL) took Abbey 11 years to complete. It’s considered among his most important works.
In 1887, the BPL commissioned the architect Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White to design a new library building. The American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens was tasked with creating several exterior carvings, as well as coordinating the interior decorations. Internationally recognized artists, including Sargent, were commissioned to create custom artworks for the Library. Although Abbey had only one major painting to his name, McKim and Saint-Gaudens were eager for him to be part of the project. At first reluctant, Abbey was persuaded by the pair and agreed to paint a mural cycle for the Book Delivery Room.
Abbey embarked on the project in 1893, working alongside Sargent in a shared studio. He selected “The Quest for the Holy Grail,” a traditional medieval epic tale with connections to several European countries, as his topic. Most BPL patrons would have been familiar with the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s famous version of the Arthurian tale.
Indeed, reference to King Arthur and his court of Camelot can be found at the beginning of American cultural history as these stories of heroic chivalry have meaningful universal themes. Post-Civil War America became infatuated with Arthurian stories, particularly in places along the Eastern Seaboard, like Boston, which had deep connections to Britain and its history.
Boston’s Holy Grail
The first five panels were completed by 1895 and installed in the BPL. The oversize theatrical narrative of “The Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail” moves from left to right, beginning in the far right-hand corner of the room. The first panel shows an angel presenting the infant Galahad with the Grail hidden under a cloth. The Grail is a cup used by Christ at the Last Supper that was later employed to gather his blood at the Crucifixion. Galahad learns that it will be his life’s duty to find it; he will achieve this quest by becoming the ideal knight. The figures are not depicted in a realistic space. Instead, they are silhouetted against a blue and gold cloth with motifs of lions, birds, and strips of Celtic patterns.
In the ensuing panels, Galahad is shown in a red robe, which symbolizes spiritual purity and allows him to be easily identified by the viewer. In the third scene, Galahad passes by King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table and a choir of angels, walking on tiles inspired by ancient Celtic ones in a German museum. He approaches the Siege, or seat, Perilous. The legend is that only the chosen knight destined to find the Grail can be safely seated and that all other men who try will die. Galahad attempts the challenge and survives.
The Knights of the Round table and Galahad then begin their search for the Holy Grail. Galahad encounters many trials on his quest. In the fifth panel, he attempts to free King Amfortas and the inhabitants of the Castle of the Grail who are under a spell that has made them spiritually dead.
The BPL is a singular institution. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States and the first public library to lend books. Holdings include more than 23 million items, amongst which are important historical documents. This legacy extends to the McKim building, which is considered the “first American Parthenon” and is now a National Historic Landmark. It houses artistic triumphs not only of ink on parchment, but of oil on canvas.
Paradoxically, the American but British-based Abbey’s execution of his Pre-Raphaelite and medieval-inspired commission cemented his place at the forefront of American art. These factors are a textbook example of what makes American art so layered and timeless.
