Maxfield Parrish

One of America’s best-known and revered illustrators, especially for children’s books and magazines, Maxfield Parrish was born into a Philadelphia Quaker family.

His father, Stephen Parrish, was a successful landscape painter and etcher, and he and Maxfield’s mother, Elizabeth Bancroft Parrish, encouraged their son’s artistic talent. Parrish is especially known for his color (people refer to ‘Parrish blue’), but his early work was in black and white. Detail, composition and texture make Parrish’s work particularly recognizable. Books and magazines gave him a great public following, but it was his prints and calendars that brought him the widest exposure.