“Madame Délicieuse,” the frontispiece illustration by Albert Herter from the 1897 edition of Old Creole Days by George W. Cable. The caption reads:
“From which Madame and her ladies were wont upon gala days to wave handkerchiefs and cast flowers to the friends in the procession.”
Albert Herter (1871-1950) was an American artist, muralist, and illustrator, and the founder of Herter Looms, the successor to his father’s successful interior decorating firm, Herter Brothers. An award winning artist, his canvases can be found in the collection of many museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
His best known mural is “Departure of the Infantrymen, August 1914” completed in 1926 and installed at the Gare de l’Est railroad station in Paris. Other murals can be found adorning the interiors of the Massachusetts Statehouse, the Wisconsin State Capitol, and the National Academy of Sciences. He illustrated numerous books and magazines, and created posters during World War I.
He and his wife Adele, also a talented artist, met the Glessners in January 1900, and they became fast friends. He inscribed a copy of Old Creole Days and gave it to Frances Glessner on January 26, 1900; that book remains in the library.