Born in Philadelphia and educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Maxfield Parrish is best known for his idyllic landscapes and storybook illustrations. Parrish served on a committee convened by Cyrus Curtis and Edward W. Bok of the Curts Publishing Company to commission a mural for the lobby of their spectacular new building. After the first three artists chosen to paint the mural died, Parrish was asked to develop the design. At the same time, Bok decided that the mural would be executed by Tiffany Studios as a glass mosaic. The mural was to be fifteen by forty-nine feet, and would embody the publisher’s desire to make art accessible to a wide public. Parrish’s design was inspired by the real gardens he had built at his summer home, The Oaks, in Cornish, New Hampshire. The artist envisioned fantastical spaces where a visitor would chance upon places of tremendous beauty and solitude, improved by careful placement of foliage and flowers, large classical us, reflecting pools and fountains, walkways and steps. The masks in the …