Blashfield, Edwin Howland

Blashfield, Edwin Howland, 1848–1936, American mural painter and mosaic designer, b. New York City, studied with Bonnat in Paris. From the 1890s on he worked chiefly as a muralist, creating large works of a historical or allegorical nature, including The Evolution of Civilization (Library of Congress dome), decorations for the Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa state capitols, and a large mosaic for the Church of St. Matthew, Washington, D.C. He also wrote Mural Painting in America (1913) and, with his wife, Italian Cities (1900, new ed. 1913).