Ellen Bernard Thompson Pyle, American 1876-1936- The toast; oil on canvas, signed ‘Ellen Bernard Thompson’ (lower right), 55.8 x 40.6 cm. Note: Pyle was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1876, and studied at the Drexel Institute of Art as well as at American illustrator Howard Pyle’s (1853-1911) art school. Shortly afterwards in 1904, she married Howard Pyle’s brother Walter and put aside her art career to raise her children. After her husband’s death in 1919, she began to paint again in order to support her family, illustrating magazine covers and book dust jackets which continued to gain in popularity. Her most important illustrations consist of 40 covers created for ‘The Saturday Evening Post’ during the 1920s and 1930s. Although a seemingly celebratory work, as guests at a formal dinner party toast the hostess, the muted colour palette in the present work creates a sobering sense of solemnity. Apparently set in the 18th century, possibly in France, it was presumably executed prior to her marriage to Walter Pyle, whose name she then adopted. In 2009, the Delaware Art Museum hosted a retrospective exhibition of her work.品相报告: Please refer to department for condition report