Maxfield Parrish: Edith Wharton's Italian Villas and Their Gardens

Click on the image to enlarge.

By way of disclaimer I must remind you (as if it isn't obvious) that I'm not an academic, nor an English major, and if I've read Edith Wharton or seen richly produced films based on her novels, I can't remember anything of any consequence. I would hazard a guess that she was in her time an authority on the subject of Italian villas and gardens as in later years Julia Child became an authority on the subject of French cuisine. In Wharton's time the area around Florence was filled with young college women from the United States who came to have their sculpted wax sketches pointed and finished life-size in marble by the patient and often grateful stone masons and artisans of Carrara and adjacent quarries. These sculptures were used to grace public libraries and civic structures throughout North America.

By November of 1903 when these ongoing articles were published in The Century Magazine Wharton was already famous for her novels (that would eventually number at least 40 in all) and Parrish was acknowledged as one of Howard Pyle's best pupils. I'm going to ignore Wharton's prose and just post visuals of Parrish's masterpieces because when you, as perhaps an illustrator, contemplate the enormous pressure on him to supply illustrations to satisfy this grande dame of letters and his august client Ted De Vinne,  1828-1914, the finest American printer of his day whose Century Magazine was appreciated for its good design and production.

Bruce Watson in the July 1999 issue of Smithsonian describes Maxfield Parrish as "a short, puckish man with piercing blue eyes," who "painted the stuff dreams are made of. His trademarks were lush gardens, ecstatic women and his famous 'Parrish blue,' the color skies must surely be in any Eden worth the name." The photo, above, is the property of the Dartmouth College Library, and a short biography is provided by the Alma Gilbert Gallery of Plainfield, New Hampshire.

Edith Wharton's biography, courtesy of the Gonzaga University's website devoted to her.

This is Edith Wharton in 1905 at The Mount, her very own famous estate and formal gardens.

This is the Villa Campi, near Florence. Click on the image to enlarge.

Comments

[janiewc]

I was extremely lucky to be in New York City mid July of 2000 at a Macintosh computer conference during the Parrish show at the Brooklyn Art Museum. On our one day sightseeing before taking the train back to Chicago we negotiated the subway to Brooklyn, where we had never been before, and luxuriated all day in the plethora of original paintings from the beginning to end of Parrish's long career. Kitschy...sometimes; commercial...definitely; but as a fellow illustrator I truly appreciate his style and detail under deadline pressures. Did he borrow? You bet. So do I and so does any illustrator using historicism to sell. Is it a fault? No! As I have often said "What we make maybe great art, but what we do is great commerce." It helps to remember the context under which he worked. I do know, however, that on that one day, the last time I was in New York, his life's work made a lasting impression on a lady from Rockford, IL (where? wedged 11 miles under Wisconsin in the center at the top of the state of Illinois). Thanks for this lovely site/blog and your sometimes pithy comments. Have a great one!

[Bettsi]

Hello! I just found your blog via another titled Lines and Colors. What a feast for the eyes you have created here! I think I'll be busy for a long time, absorbing everything you have shared. I just bought a print of Sunlit Valley by Parrish because the colors and view remind me of my homeland in California. Do you know if Parrish spent any time in California? Thanks for a really great blog.

[Ilene]

Looking where I can purchase a print of Maxfield Parrish painting... Title is something like "Winter 1909." Has a picture of a man walkig through snow. Please help.

[giam]

Gee, abner, I'm sorry I don't love everything Max Parrish ever did, but it's my blog and I get to say what I think however petty, and as insecure as I may seem to you.

[c. abner]

I find your comments about Maxfield Parrish degrading and petty. All artists draw from other prior works and I can't fathom how you can fault him for being inspired and drawing from other artists. This just shows your own insecurities as an artist. I personally, like to point out the artists to whom I owe my inspiration in a favourable manor.

[Mary]

Looking for name of Maxfield Parrish painting - reminds me of "daybreak - arab man on right sitting by a tree and pile of rocks reading to arab woman on left - snowcovered mountains in background - I am researching a print I was given

[Joshua]

i am looking for a name of a print buy parrish it ha a white path leading up to a flower garden looking out to a lkae and some moutnains i see sea gull in the sky there is a white pillard stucture on the right anda birck on the left

any idea s what it may be called

[Mariana]

Hi!

I just wanted to say that I love old children's books illustrations, and that I was delighted to find your sight. Very beautiful and interesting! :)

Bie!