Edwin Austin Abbey

Edwin Austin Abbey made this drawing of an old woman when he traveled to Munich and visited the studio of the artist and instructor Alois Erdtelt. Drawing directly from the model, Abbey gives prodigious attention to the woman’s costume. Her fingerless gloves, felt shoes, and white collar, and her ruddy, wizened face designate her social status. The curious wooden frame on her back indicates her arduous job gathering sticks from the field for fuel.

Abbey’s technique is typical of that of illustrators in the period who used monochrome washes of brown, black, and white to create designs for wood engravers.