ELEANOR VERE BOYLE [E.V.B.] (1825-1916)
"But he was only sunk in a dream of delight." Original illustration for The Story without an End, from the German of Carobe by Sarah Austin. (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 1868). Watercolor on paper. 145x116 mm; 5¾x4½ inches, mounted to 7x6-inch stiff card. Tipped to window matte; framed. Provenance: The artist's family; Maas Gallery, 1980s; present owner.This is the beautiful original watercolor illustration given to Leighton Brothers engravers to translate into the color lithographs used in the first edition of the book. As a descendant of the Duke of Ancaster, Eleanor Vere Boyle was a member of the British peerage and an amateur painter and children's book illustrator. As her family looked askance at any one of her class or sex participating in the arts, she signed her work "EVB" and so worked within relative obscurity. Her husband was the son of the Earl of Cork. She specialized in elaborate Pre-Raphaelitesque watercolors for fairy tales. One of her most accomplished works was Friedrich Wilhelm Carové's The Story Without an End (1868), translated from the German by Sarah Austin.