BOYLE, Eleanor Vere [E.V.B.]

"a tinge of Gaelic mysticism"

British artist and author of the Victorian era, Eleanor Boyle was considered to be one of the most important female artists of her time.  Her social standing, however, was such that she rarely exhibited or sold her work and masked her identity by signing all her work simply EVB, by which initials she is now generally known.  Her bright watercolours and arresting technique were heavily influenced by the Pre Raphaelites, her best works being highly detailed, moody and haunting in design.    Her early childhood was spent in the Scottish hills in Aberdeenshire, and this may have influenced the  “darker streak, a tinge of Gaelic mysticism which gives a slightly sinister character to some of her pictures.” 

In 1872 EVB became one of the first British artists to illustrate the stories of Hans Christian Andersen, which work set new standards in illustration, but her  masterpiece is generally considered to be her retelling and illustration of Beauty and the Beast, published in 1875.  The artwork is rich and detailed, and full of “theatrical poses, Renaissance drapery, and interiors framed with arches and columns.”

She continued to write and paint throughout her long life, although in her later years she primarily wrote and illustrated garden books.  By the time of her death she had written or illustrated 21 books.

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