The Dance

Edwin Austin Abbey

ca. 1884 · Pen and ink · Drawings and Prints

Abbey's drawing illustrates "A Castle in Spain: A Novel" by the Canadian author James De Mille, which Harper and Brothers reissued in 1883. The image responds to the penultimate chapter, which is titled "In Which the King Comes to Claim His Own." Related text on page 177, reads: "His Majesty" now took another long, long pull at the black bottle. "If it wasn't that I had that other noble heart to fall back on," said he, as he wiped his royal eyes with the back of his royal hand, "I'd be fairly broken-hearted, so I would. But I'll be like Tim in the song:..." Singing this, the jovial monarch caught Mrs. Russell's hand in his, and proceed to dance in a manner which was far more boisterous than dignified. Mrs. Russell, always fond and indulgent, lent herself to the royal whim, and danced much more vigorously than could have been expected from a person of her years."

Artist

Edwin Austin Abbey

Date

ca. 1884

Medium

Pen and ink

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1921, transferred from the American Wing