When I Touched the Bell to Change the Plates, Both of 'Em Came in Together

When I Touched the Bell to Change the Plates, Both of 'Em Came in Together
When I Touched the Bell to Change the Plates, Both of 'Em Came in Together

When I Touched the Bell to Change the Plates, Both of 'Em Came in Together

Date1901
Artist (American painter and illustrator, 1866–1924)
Illustration Citation"The Successors of Mary the First," by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, in The Ladies' Home Journal, March 1901
MediumWatercolor and gouache on illustration board
Dimensionssheet: 14 3/4 × 18 3/4 in. (37.5 × 47.6 cm)
mat: 22 × 28 in. (55.9 × 71.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Eisenstat, 1980
Object number1980-178
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThis story provides a humorous view of an upper class household that cannot retain dependable servants. In this scene, the twin maids at right cause consternation with their eccentric behavior. Told in a satirical fashion, the plot highlights class conflicts in American society.

Determined to become a painter after his studies at the the National Academy of Design and the Munich Art Academy, New York-born Arthur Ignatius Keller soon found his work in demand for illustration. By the mid-1890s, his work was appearing regularly in major magazines, along with illustrations by artists such as Howard Pyle. The authors for whose works he illustrated included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Keller also taught illustration at the New York School of Art, founded by William Merritt Chase, where one of his students was Edward Hopper.
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