Background
Edward Harrison May was born in 1824 in Croydon, England. He was brought to the United States as a boy of ten by his father, the Rev. Edward Harrison May, a Reformed Dutch clergyman, who had been called to a pastorate in New York.
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Edward Harrison May
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The May family was one of culture and talent. Edward himself had unusual ability as a draftsman, a mathematician, and civil engineer, but he abandoned engineering for the art of painting and took up training under Daniel Huntington.
Career
His early work met with some success in New York. Aided by other young painters, he made a panorama of "The Pilgrim's Progress, " which was exhibited in several cities and proved profitable. He soon left for Europe, and thereafter most of his life was spent abroad. In 1851 he was working in Thomas Couture's studio in Paris. Later he made several trips to Italy to study the work of the old masters. He also made several visits to England, where he painted a number of portraits. In Paris he made exceptionally good copies of some of the old Italian works in the Louvre, including Titian's "Entombment" and Murillo's Madonna. As early as 1855 he began to exhibit pictures at the Salon. His "Death of a Brigand, " which received a medal, is now the property of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Couture thought highly of his "Cardinal Mazarin Taking Leave of his Pictures in the Louvre, " and Théophile Gautier warmly praised his "Francis I Lamenting the Death of his Son. " These typical Salon canvases, with a score or more of other elaborate historical compositions, were hung in the Salon between 1855 and 1885. Notable examples were the "Last Days of Christopher Columbus" (1861) and "Milton Dictating to his Daughters" (1883). The French critics were more than merely respectful in their comments on his work. The Annales Historiques alluded to the exactitude and firmness of his drawing, the harmony and depth of his color, and his striking veracity of expression. Among May's many portraits were those of Gen. John Meredith Read, United States consul-general in Paris, Edouard de Laboulaye, the historian, Anson Burlingame, United States minister to China, Jerome Bonaparte, Count A. E. de Gasparin, William Lewis Dayton, United States minister to France, and other personages of the time. His large picture of Lady Jane Grey taking leave of the constable of the Tower as she went to her execution was acquired by Joseph Harrison, Jr. , of Philadelphia. Other important historical and genre pieces came to the United States. "Mary Magdalen" and "The Brigand" are in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York. May's pictures were unquestionably academic, and they had the excellences and defects of the type. Like Hunt, he mastered the method of work taught by Couture, but, unlike Hunt, he continued to use it throughout his career. He died on May 17, 1887 at Paris in his sixty-fourth year.
Achievements
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May was a first-rate draftsman, and his compositions are very well organized in the conventional manner of the old painters. He was regarded as one of the leaders of the American expatriate art community in Paris. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 May served as captain of an American ambulance corps at the front, for which he was awarded a medal by the French government.
Personality
Isham remarks that there is no intensity of personal emotion in May's work; on the other hand they make no appeal to the gallery by excess of sentiment.
Connections
There is no information about his personal life.
