The Artist's Road Painting the World's Beautiful Places

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   It is hard to overstate the amount of artistic inspiration Boston offers. We start this category with the Boston Public Garden, where we had the opportunity to paint over nearly a week in early June. The nearby Public Library houses the wonderful murals of John Singer Sargent, Edwin Austin Abbey and Puvic de Chavannes. We will be adding more sites of interest to artists in Boston over the course of our travels there.

Boston Public Garden

  The Boston Public Garden consists of 24 acres, and is the second “jewel” in the Emerald Necklace chain of parks linked together through Boston and Brookline designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Public Garden was established in 1837 through the efforts of philanthropist Horace Grey. Since then, the park has gone through declines and restorations, surviving threats of development and neglect and is now protected as a National Historic Landmark.

   The Garden was initially designed by architect George F. Meacham, winner of a public competition that paid $100. The trees of the Garden are perhaps the most striking elements. There are over one hundred varieties, some massive and dating back to the original plantings of the 1800s. Statues have been added along with, in 1867, the "world's smallest suspension bridge” designed by William G. Preston, which spans the serpentine four-acre pond. The pond also contains a small landscaped island and the dock for the famous Swan Boats. The Swan Boats offer fifteen-minute rides around the pond and were designed by shipbuilder Robert Paget in 1877. Paget was inspired by the Wagner opera "Lohengrin" in which the hero crosses a river in a boat drawn by a swan. The Swan Boats are still operated by the Paget family. More information is available at the Friends of the Boston Public Garden.

Boston Public Library

Bela Pratt's Sculpture Representing Art at the Boston Public Library

   The Boston Public Library in Copley Square (700 Boylston Street) was established in 1848. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in America and the first public library to lend books. The original building was designed by the architecture firm of McKim, Mead and White. Architecture tours are available daily and free of charge.

   The Library contains the specially commissioned murals of Puvis de Chavannes, The Muses, the series of mural paintings by Edwin Austin Abbey titled The Quest of the Holy Grail and the mural sequence by John Singer Sargent called Triumph of Religion. Members see Sargent's Great Murals.

   More information about the Library is available at The Boston Public Library.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

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