Woman Among the Vines

The German-born and trained Frederick Dielman was a multi-talented artist who worked in cartography, illustration, mosaics, and murals over the course of his long career. In 1889, he was named president of the National Academy of Design, but it was perhaps his lengthy teaching career at the Art Students’ League, the College of the City of New York, and the Cooper Union that had the most impact on American artists.

This unassuming figure painting shares a title with—and may be related to—a drawing Dielman completed for an illustrated edition of Washington Irving’s Tales of a Traveller in 1895. He was often commissioned for illustrations in editions of literature by such authors as Nathanial Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Louisa May Alcott.