Depicts a scene from Shakespeare's <i>Two Gentlemen of Verona</i>, where the Host sings to Sylvia:
<p>"Who is Silvia? what is she,<br>
That all our swains commend her?<br>
Holy, fair and wise is she;<br>
The heaven such grace did lend her,<br>
That she might admired be.<br>
Is she kind as she is fair?<br>
For beauty lives with kindness.<br>
Love doth to her eyes repair,<br>
To help him of his blindness,<br>
And, being help'd, inhabits there.<br>
Then to Silvia let us sing,<br>
That Silvia is excelling;<br>
She excels each mortal thing<br>
Upon the dull earth dwelling:<br>
To her let us garlands bring."
</p>
<i>The Two Gentlemen of Verona</i>, Act 4, Scene 2.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Edwin_Austin_Abbey" class="extiw" title="w:en:Edwin Austin Abbey"><span title="American illustrator and painter (1852-1911)">Edwin Austin Abbey</span></a>
</bdi>
1896–99; reworked 1900
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/search?q=abbey">http://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/search?q=abbey</a>