Edwin A, Abbey, R, A. 
 
 7jAe American \P^rt 
 Salleries 
 
 ^adison Square South 
 7few 2/ork 
 
EXHIBITION 
 
 AT THE 
 
 AMERICAN ART GALLERIES 
 
 MADISON SQUARE SOUTH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SECOND HALF 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Series of Paintings 
 
 PRESENTING 
 
 ‘^The Quest of 
 
 the Holy Grail” 
 
 Done for the decoration of 
 
 THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF BOSTON 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWIN A. ABBEY, R.A. 
 
 Open daily g a.m. to 6 p.m.y from Monday y December gth 
 to Saturdayy December 2 1 sty inclusive 
 
 AMERICAN ART ASSOCIATION, Managers 
 NEW YORK 
 1901 
 
Press of J. J. Little & Ca 
 Astor Place, New York 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 story of the Quest of the Holy Grail has been 
 ^ treated by poets and composers, but the pres- 
 ent undertaking is perhaps the first attempt to give it 
 continuous pictorial illustration. Invited to cover, 
 with a series of designs having at once a romantic 
 reference and a unity of theme, the walls of a large 
 room in the New Public Library of Boston, Mr. 
 Abbey conceived the idea of unfolding, in a co- 
 herent order, several of the features of one of the 
 most confused and mystical, but most noble and 
 universal, clusters of legend that have come down to 
 us from the twilight of European literature, through 
 the medium, in England, of Walter Mapes ; in France, 
 of Chretien de Troyes ; and in Germany, of WoKraun, 
 of Eschenbach ; all twelfth century writers. The 
 artistic question became for Mr. Abbey largely a 
 question of selection and adaptation — adaptation, in 
 particular, to conditions of space and architectural 
 form in the particular chamber to be decorated. Cer- 
 tain simplifications and compressions were inevitable, 
 such as in the present series; the attribution to a 
 single hero of adventures and experiences of which, 
 in the old romances, now one personage, now 
 another — Galahad, Percival, Lancelot, Sir Bors — be- 
 comes the wonderful subject. The incarnation of 
 the ideal knighthood in the group here exhibited is 
 that stainless Sir Galahad, with whom — on different 
 
 3 
 
lines — a great English poet has touched the imagi- 
 nation of all readers. 
 
 The Holy Grail was fabled to be the sacred vessel 
 from which our Lord had eaten at the Last Supper, 
 and into which (having purchased it from Pontius 
 Pilate), Joseph of Arimathea had gathered the divine 
 blood of His wounds. Its existence, its preserva- 
 tion, its miraculous virtues and properties were a 
 cherished popular belief in the early ages of Euro- 
 pean Christianity; and in the folk- tales from which 
 the twelfth century narrators drew their material, it 
 was represented as guarded for ages in the Castle of 
 the Grail by the descendants of the ‘‘rich man,” to 
 whom the body of Jesus had been surrendered, where 
 it awaited the coming of the perfect knight, who 
 alone should be worthy to have knowledge of it. 
 This perfect knight is introduced to us in the 
 romances of the Arthurian cycle, so largely devoted 
 to the adventures of the various candidates for this 
 most exalted of rewards. Incomparable were the 
 properties of the Grail, the enjoyment of a revelation 
 of which conveyed, among many privileges, the 
 ability to live, and to cause others to live, indefinitely 
 without food, as well as the achievement of universal 
 knowledge, and of invulnerability in battle. 
 
 This revelation was the proof and recompense of 
 the highest knightly purity, the perfection constitut- 
 ing its possessor the type of the knightly character ; 
 so that the highest conceivable emprise for the com- 
 panions of the Round Table was to attain to such a 
 consecration — to cause the transcendent vessel to 
 be made manifest to them. 
 
 4 
 
PAINTINGS 
 BY E. A. ABBEY, R.A. 
 
 HE first five of this Series, viz., Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are 
 
 already fixed in their places in the New Public Library at 
 Boston, and those now exhibited comprise the second half of 
 the Series, viz,. Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ii, 12, 13, 14, and 15, but 
 in the present Catalogue the entire series is recorded in 
 order to give to the spectator the complete story of “ The 
 Quest of the Holy Grail.” Photographs of Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, 
 and 5 aie here exhibited. 
 
 HE child Galahad, the descendant, by his 
 
 mother, of Joseph of Arimathea, is visited, 
 among the nuns who bring him up, by a dove 
 bearing a golden censer and an angel carrying 
 the Grail, the presence of which operates as 
 sustenance to the infant. From the hands of 
 the holy women, in the legend, the predestined 
 boy passes into those of the subtle Gurnemanz, 
 who instructs him in the knowledge of the 
 things of the world, and in the duties and func- 
 tions of the ideal knight. But before leaving 
 the nuns he has performed his nightly vigil — 
 watched alone, till dawn, in the church. 
 
 No. I 
 
 5 
 
No. 2 
 
 T his ordeal of the vigil terminates in his 
 departure. Clothed in red, he is girt for 
 going forth, while the nuns bring to him Sir 
 Launcelot, who fastens on one of his spurs, 
 and Sir Bors, who attaches the other. 
 
 No. 3 
 
 T he Arthurian Round Table and the curi- 
 ous fable of the Seat Perilous is here 
 dealt with: the Seat Perilous — “perilous for 
 good and ill “ — in which no man has yet sat 
 with safety, not even the fashioner himself, but 
 into which, standing vacant while it awaits 
 only a blameless occupant, the young Sir Gala- 
 had, knighted by Arthur, has sworn a vow to 
 be worthy to take his place. In this design he 
 comes to do so. The Companions of the Order 
 are seated in Arthur’s hall, and every chair, save 
 one, is filled. Suddenly the doors and win- 
 dows close of themselves, the place becomes 
 suffused with light, and Sir Galahad, robed in 
 red (the color emblematic of purity), is led in 
 by an old man clothed in white, Joseph of 
 Arimathea, who, according to one of the most 
 artless features of the romance, has subsisted 
 for centuries by the possession of the supreme 
 relic. The young knight is thus installed in 
 6 
 
safety in the Seat Perilous,” above which be- 
 comes visible the legend, “ This is the seat of 
 Galahad. ’ ’ 
 
 HE knights are here seen about to go 
 
 forth on their search for the Holy Grail, 
 now formally instituted by King Arthur. They 
 have heard Mass and are receiving the epis- 
 copal benediction, Sir Galahad always in red. 
 Although throughout this series he is the 
 “ bright boy-knight " of Tennyson, he is not, 
 as that poet represents him, “ white-armored.’' 
 
 MFORTAS, the Fisher King, King of 
 
 the Grail, as the legend has it — the Roi 
 Pecheur of Chretien de Troyes — having been 
 wounded several centuries before for taking 
 up arms in the cause of unlawful love, lies 
 under a spell, with all the inmates of the Cas- 
 tle of the Grail, into which the artist here in- 
 troduces us. They are spiritually dead, and 
 although the Grail often appears in their very 
 midst, they cannot see it. From this strange 
 perpetuation of ineffectual life they can none 
 of them, women or men, priests, or soldiers, 
 or courtiers, be liberated by death until the 
 most blameless knight shall at last arrive. It 
 
 No. 4 
 
 No. 5 
 
 7 
 
will not be sufficient, however, that he simply 
 penetrate into the castle: to the operation of 
 the remedy is attached that condition which 
 recurs so often in primitive romance, the ask- 
 ing of a question on which everything depends. 
 Sir Galahad has reached his goal, but at the 
 very goal his single slight taint of imperfec- 
 tion, begotten of the too worldly teaching of 
 Gurnemanz, defeats his beneficent action. Be- 
 fore him passes the procession of the Grail, 
 moving between the great fires and the trance- 
 smitten king, and gazing at it he tries to arrive, 
 in his mind, at an interpretation of what it 
 means. He sees the bearer of the Grail, the 
 damsel with the Golden Dish (the prototype 
 of whom was Herodias bearing the head of 
 John the Baptist on a charger), the two knights 
 with the Seven-branched Candlestick, and the 
 knight holding aloft the Bleeding Spear. The 
 duty resting upon him is to ask what these 
 things denote, but, with the presumption of 
 one, who supposes himself to have imbibed all 
 knowledge, he forbears, considering that he 
 is competent to guess. But he pays for his 
 silence, inasmuch as it forfeits for him the 
 glory of redeeming from this paralysis of cen- 
 turies the old monarch and his hollow-eyed 
 Court, forever dying and never dead, whom he 
 leaves folded in their dreadful doom. On his 
 second visit, many years later, he is better 
 inspired. 
 
 8 
 
THE SECOND HALF OF 
 THE SERIES 
 
 No. 6 
 
 I T is the morning after his visit to the Castle 
 of the Grail. Awakening in the chamber 
 to which he had been led the previous night, 
 he finds the castle deserted. Issuing forth, he 
 sees his horse saddled and the drawbridge 
 down. Thinking to find in the forest the in- 
 mates of the castle, he rides forth, but the 
 drawbridge closes suddenly behind him; a wail 
 of despair follows him, and voices mock him 
 for having failed to ask the effectual Question. 
 
 He fares forward and presently meets three 
 damsels; the first, the Loathly Damsel, is rid- 
 ing upon a pale mule with a golden bridle. 
 This lady, once beautiful in form and features, 
 is now noble still in form, but hideous in fea- 
 ture, and she wears a red cloak, and a hood 
 about her head, for she is bald; and in her 
 arms is the head of a dead king, encircled with 
 a gold crown. The second lady is riding in 
 the manner of an esquire; the third is on her 
 feet, dressed as a stripling, and in her hand is 
 
 9 
 
a scourge with which she drives the two riders. 
 These damsels are under the spell of the Grail 
 Castle. Against her will, a magic power is 
 used by the Loathly Damsel to tempt and de- 
 stroy knights and kings. .She, with her two 
 companions, must continue to wander, doing 
 deeds of wickedness, until the sinless Virgin 
 Knight shall come to the Grail Castle and ask 
 concerning the wonders he sees- there. They 
 now assail Sir Galahad with reproaches, .cursing 
 him for having failed on the previous day to 
 ask the Question, which not only would have 
 delivered them and the inmates of the castle, 
 but would have restored peace and plenty to 
 the land. The earth now must remain barren, 
 and Sir Galahad, wandering forth again, is fol- 
 lowed by the curses of the peasantry^ while 
 war rages throughout the land. He must en- 
 counter many adventures, suffer many sor- 
 rows, and many years must pass before he 
 returns once more to the Castle of the Grail, 
 where, having through all ordeals remained 
 sinless, he will finally ask the Question which 
 will redeem the sin-stricken land. 
 
 No. 7 
 
 S IR GALAHAD is here seen arriving at the 
 gate of the “ Castle of the Maidens,” 
 where the seven “ Knights of Darkness,” the 
 seven ” Deadly Sins,” have imprisoned a great 
 
 lO 
 
company of maidens, “ The Virtues,” in order 
 to keep them from all contact with man. It 
 is Sir Galahad’s mission to overcome Sin and 
 .redeem the world by setting free the Virtues, 
 now held captive by the powers of evil, and he 
 fights the seven knights and overcomes them. 
 
 No. 8 
 
 S IR; GALAHAD having passea the outer 
 gate of the castle is here encountering 
 a monk, who blesses him, and delivers up to 
 him the keys of the castle. 
 
 No. 9 
 
 S IR GALAHAD’S entry into the castle is 
 here shown. The imprisoned maidens 
 have long been expecting him, for it had been 
 prophesied that the perfect knight would come 
 to deliver them. They welcome him with shy 
 delight, putting out their hands to be kissed. 
 Having accomplished this mission, Sir Galahad 
 passes on to other deeds. 
 
 No. lo 
 
 S IR GALAHAD has become wedded to 
 Blanchefleur, but, sacrificing his earthly 
 love, he leaves her that he may continue the 
 
 II 
 
Quest. The wounded and sin-stricken Amfortas 
 can be healed only by a Virgin Knight, and only 
 a Virgin Knight may achieve the Quest. A 
 new-born knowledge has unsealed Sir Gala- 
 had's eyes, but with this knowledge is begot- 
 ten the strength to overcome, and, renouncing, 
 finally, every human desire, he resumes the 
 Quest. 
 
 No. II 
 
 H aving passed through many adventures. 
 Sir Galahad has here returned to the 
 Castle of the Grail. The procession of the 
 Grail has once more passed before him, and 
 this time, grown wise by knowledge and suffer- 
 ing, he asks the Question, and thereby heals 
 Amfortas, cleanses him from sin, and allows 
 the old king to die. The Angel bears away 
 the Grail from the castle, and it is not seen 
 again until the day when Sir Galahad achieves 
 the Grail at Sarras. Having now accomplished 
 his great task, the spirit of the Grail guides 
 him towards the goal which shall crown his 
 labors — the achievement of the Grail. He is 
 directed towards the sea, to Solomon's Ship, 
 which will bear him to Sarras, there to be 
 crowned king, and there the Grail itself will 
 finally appear to him. 
 
 12 
 
No. 12 
 
 S IR GALAHAD, borne upon a white 
 charger, is seen passing from the land, 
 where peace and plenty once more reign, and 
 followed by the blessings of the people. 
 
 No. 13 
 
 S IR GALAHAD is here in Solomon’s Ship, 
 which he found waiting to carry him 
 across the seas to Sarras. The Grail, borne by 
 an angel, guides the ship. Sir Bors and Sir 
 Percival accompany him, for although, having 
 sinned once, they can never see the Grail them- 
 selves, yet, having persevered faithfully in the 
 Quest, they have acquired the right to accom- 
 pany Sir Galahad and witness his achievement. 
 Resting upon a cushion in the stern of the ship 
 are three spindles made from the “ Tree of 
 Life — ^one snow-white, one green, one blood- 
 red. When Eve was driven from the Garden 
 of Eden, she carried with her the branch she 
 had plucked from the “ Tree of Life,” and, 
 having planted it, the branch grew to be a tree, 
 with branches and leaves white, in token that 
 Eve was a virgin when she planted it. When 
 Cain was begotten, the tree turned green ; and 
 afterwards, when Cain slew Abel, the tree 
 turned red. 
 
 13 
 
No. 14 
 
 THE CITY OF SARRAS 
 
 No. 15 
 
 S IR GALAHAD is now King of Sarras, 
 and upon a hill he makes a Sacred Place 
 and builds a Golden Tree. Morning and even- 
 ing he repairs thither, and from day to day he 
 beautifies the tree, and, finally, when it is com- 
 plete, Joseph of Arimathea (with a company 
 of angels) appears with the Grail. As Sir Gal- 
 ahad gazes upon it, crown, sceptre, and robe 
 fall from him. He no longer needs them. He 
 thanks God for having let him see that which 
 tongue may not describe, nor heart think. 
 Having now beheld that which is the source of 
 all life and knowledge and power, his spirit 
 can no longer remain in the narrow confines 
 of his body. The Grail itself is borne heaven- 
 ward, and is never again seen on this earth. 
 
 14 
 
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