Original Primitive Folk Art Painting These little treasures are on staple free canvas with the sides painted black so there is no need to frame. This collection of "Literary Greats" paintings are perfect for book shelves, desks or just about anywhere. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) “All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.” As a boy, Robert Louis Stevenson suffered from constant lung ailments and was confined to bed for months at a time. As a man, he traveled often in search of warmer climates that soothed his poor health: first France and the south of England, later Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. He longed to return to his native Scotland, but claimed that his health deteriorated every time he strayed from the equator. Even with the travels, he was confined to bed for long periods. The one thing he could do during these times was write, and write he did. Treasure Island (1883) made his name and The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) made his fortune. A hit on both sides of the Atlantic, the latter book sold more than 40,000 copies in six months. The writer Vladimir Nabokov later called it “A fable belonging to the same order of art as Madame Bovary.” His later work, written in the South Pacific, is generally acknowledged to be more mature and insightful regarding human character. He was at work on a book called Weir of Hermiston, which critics say would have been his masterpiece, when he suffered a brain hemorrhage. He was at the height of his writing powers when his bodily powers failed him.