Frey Mounts the Height of Hlidskialf
Date1930
Artist
Katharine Pyle
(American painter, illustrator, and author, 1863–1938)
Illustration CitationFrontispiece for Tales from Norse Mythology, by Katharine Pyle (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1930)
MediumOil on illustration board
Dimensions15 3/4 × 11 7/8 in. (40 × 30.2 cm)
frame: 19 3/4 × 16 1/16 in. (50.2 × 40.8 cm)
frame: 19 3/4 × 16 1/16 in. (50.2 × 40.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Edward Wildrick, Jr., 1942
Object number1942-24
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextFrey, one of the most important gods in Norse mytholgy, is seated on Hlidskialf, the throne of chief god Odin, from which Odin can see all realms.The youngest child of the Pyle family, Katharine was prolific as both author and illustrator. At the turn of the twentieth century, many considered art an appropriate extension of women's "natural" talent for beautifying their surroundings, but there was still resistance to women as professional artists. The artist and illustrator Joseph Pennell offered Katharine Pyle as an example of why there was "no earthly reason why women should not be illustrators."
