Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/23

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Abbey
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Abbott

cremation he was buried at the old churchyard of Kingsbury, Neasden. On 22 April 1890 he had married Mary Gertrude (daughter of Frederick Mead, merchant, New York). She survived him without issue.

Abbey's artistic and intellectual merits, which his personal charm and sympathetic and generous temperament enhanced, were widely acknowledged. He rapidly became a leading force in the English and American art of the day and founder of a school. Steeped in mediæval and seventeenth and eighteenth-century art and literature, he captivated the public by the charm, dignity, and dramatic ability which he brought to the rendering of his subjects. At the same tune his artistic qualities, alike as to colour, draughtsmanship, composition, and invention, appealed on technical grounds to his fellow-artists, whether his medium were oil, water-colour, pen-and-ink, or pastel.

He was chosen member of many artistic societies in England and other countries, including the American Water-Colour Society of New York (elected 1876) and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours (London) (elected 1883 and resigned in 1893). In 1895, when he became one of the original incorporators of the American Academy at Rome, he was elected associate of the Royal Water-Colour Society. In 1901 he was made an associate and in 1902 a member of the (American) Academy of Design; and he was an original member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was an hon. member of the American Institute of Architects (1895); hon. member of the Royal Bavarian Academy and of the Madrid Society of Artists; hon. associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. After exhibiting his work in Paris in 1896 he was made chevalier of the legion of honour and corresponding member of the Institut de France, as well as of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1896). Yale University made him an hon. M.A. and the University of Pennsylvania an hon. LL.D. Among the awards won by Abbey were a second-class gold medal, Munich International Exhibition in 1883; a first-class gold medal, Exposition Universelle, Paris, in 1889; two gold medals, Chicago Exhibition, 1893; a gold medal of honour, Pennsylvania, 1897; and a first-class gold medal, Vienna Exhibition, 1898. In Jan-March 1912 a memorial exhibition of Abbey's works, comprising 322 items, was included in the 'Old Masters' exhibition of the Royal Academy at Burlington House.

Abbey remained to the end an American citizen; but he deeply appreciated his reception in England, and he had a full faith in the beneficial influence and equitable organisation of the Royal Academy.

Among portraits of Abbey are a crayon drawing by J. S. Sargent, R.A.; an oil portrait by Sir W. Q. Orchardson, R.A. (1910, Orchardson's last work); a bronze bust by E. Onslow Ford, R.A. (1902); a sketch portrait by John H. Bacon, A.R.A.; drawings by Griyayédoff and Napoleon Sarony respectively, and a caricature and portrait by Leslie Ward ('Spy') in 'Vanity Fair' (1898).

[Private information and documents in the possession of Mrs. E. A. Abbey; Royal Academy Catalogues.]

M. H. S.

ABBOTT, EVELYN (1843–1901), classical scholar, born at Epperstone, Nottinghamshire, on 10 March 1843, was third of the five sons of Evelyn Abbott, a farmer and landowner, by his wife Mary Lambe. Educated first at Lincoln grammar school and afterwards at the Somerset College, Bath, Abbott was elected in 1862 to an open exhibition at Balliol College, Oxford, and commenced his university residence in October. He established a high reputation among his contemporaries as a scholar, and was likewise distinguished in athletic sports. In 1864 he won the Gaisford prize for Greek verse and a first class in classical moderations. In the Easter vacation of 1866, just before he entered for his final examination, he fell in a hurdle race and injured his spine. Unhappily, he was so unaccustomed to illness that he did not recognise the serious nature of the accident, and continued his exertions, both at his books and at cricket, as if nothing had occurred. In the summer he obtained a first class in literæ humaniores. In the following autumn, when the mischief became manifest, it was too late for a cure; he became hopelessly paralysed in the lower limbs, and until his death never put foot to the ground. The inevitable effect of these unnatural conditions on his health and activity was held at bay for thirty-five years by a very strong natural constitution and by his admirable courage and patience. He soon began to take private pupils, sometimes near his birthplace in Sherwood Forest, sometimes at Filey. In 1870 he was appointed by Dr. Percival sixth form master at Clifton College. In 1873 Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol, invited him to return to Oxford, and until 1875 he took work at Corpus as