Why, what's the matter?, asked Miss Celia, as Ben dropped the handful of what looked like rubbish.

Why, what's the matter?, asked Miss Celia, as Ben dropped the handful of what looked like rubbish.
Why, what's the matter?, asked Miss Celia, as Ben dropped the handful of what looked like rubbish.

Why, what's the matter?, asked Miss Celia, as Ben dropped the handful of what looked like rubbish.

Date1905
Artist (American painter, illustrator, and printmaker, 1858–1932)
Illustration CitationUnder the Lilacs, by Louisa May Alcott (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905)
MediumCharcoal on illustration board
Dimensions19 3/4 × 12 3/4 in. (50.2 × 32.4 cm)
frame: 28 1/8 × 20 7/8 in. (71.4 × 53 cm)
Credit LineGayle and Alene Hoskins Endowment Fund in memory of Diane Nangle, 2013
Object number2013-44
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextIn Under the Lilacs, two young girls, a boy who has run away from the circus, and some neighbors find themselves together for a summer, and a tale of friendship and adventure ensues. Here, a search for lost money ferrets out the mice that have nibbled it into shreds.

Alice Barber Stephens attended the Phkladelphia School of Design for Women and by the age of 15 was employed as a wood engraver. She continued her education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she studied with Thomas Eakins before studying in Paris. From the mid-1880s, Barber Stephens' illustrations appeared in books and periodicals, often accompanying texts by authors such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. She also illustrated advertisements, including a campaign for Ivory Soap.
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