Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.
by
Clara Erskine Clement
Part 2 out of 7
the branch of a rose-tree, it seems to spring from the ground with its
flowers in all their luxurious wantonness, and one can almost imagine
one's self inhaling their delightful perfume. This talented artist knows
so well how to depict with her brush the transparency and softness of the
tender, ethereal rose, that one may seek in vain among a crowd of artists
for her equal.... The paintings are all bright and sunny, and we are
filled with enthusiasm when gazing at her powerful works."
This artist was born in 1826 and died in 1895. She lived and died in her
family residence. In 1850, at Groningen, she took for her motto, "Be true
to nature and you will produce that which is good." To this she remained
faithful all her days.
BALDWIN, EDITH ELLA. Born at Worcester, Massachusetts. Studied in
Paris at Julian Academy, under Bouguereau and Robert-Fleury; at the
Colarossi studios under Courtois, also under Julius Rolshoven and Mosler.
Paints portraits and miniatures. At the Salon of the Champ de Mars she
exhibited a portrait in pastel, in 1901; at exhibitions of the Society of
American Artists in 1898 and 1899 she exhibited miniatures; also pictures
in oils at Worcester, 1903.
BALL, CAROLINE PEDDLE. Honorable mention at Paris Exhibition, 1900.
Member of the Guild of Arts and Crafts and of Art Students' League. Born
at Terre Haute, Indiana. Pupil at the Art Students' League, under
Augustus St. Gaudens and Kenyon Cox.
This sculptor exhibited at Paris a Bronze Clock. She designed for the
Tiffany Glass Company the figure of the Young Virgin and that of the
Christ of the Sacred Heart.
A memorial fountain at Flushing, Long Island, a medallion portrait of
Miss Cox of Terre Haute, a monument to a child in the same city, a
Victory in a quadriga, seen on the United States Building, Paris, 1900,
and also at the Buffalo Exhibition, 1901, are among her important works.
BANUELOS, ANTONIA. At the Paris Exposition of 1878 several portraits
by this artist attracted attention, one of them being a portrait of
herself. At the Exposition of 1880 she exhibited "A Guitar Player."
BARRANTES MANUEL DE ARAGON, MARIA DEL CARMEN. Member of the Academy
of San Fernando, Madrid, 1816. This institution possesses a drawing by
her of the "Virgin with the Christ-Child" and a portrait in oil of a
person of the epoch of Charles III.
BASHKIRTSEFF, MARIE. Born in Russia of a noble family. 1860-84. This
remarkable young woman is interesting in various phases of her life, but
here it is as an artist that she is to be considered. Her journal, she
tells us, is absolutely truthful, and it is but courteous to take the
story of her artistic career from that. She had lessons in drawing, as
many children do, but she gives no indication of a special love for art
until she visits Florence when fourteen years old, and her love of
pictures and statues is awakened. She spent hours in galleries, never
sitting down, without fatigue, in spite of her delicacy. She says: "That
is because the things one loves do not tire one. So long as there are
pictures and, better still, statues to be seen, I am made of iron." After
questioning whether she dare say it, she confides to her readers: "I
don't like the Madonna della Sedia of Raphael. The countenance of the
Virgin is pale, the color is not natural, the expression is that of a
waiting-maid rather than of a Madonna. Ah, but there is a Magdalen of
Titian that enchanted me. Only--there must always be an only--her wrists
are too thick and her hands are too plump--beautiful hands they would be
on a woman of fifty. There are things of Rubens and Vandyck that are
ravishing. The 'Mensonge' of Salvator Rosa is very natural. I do not
speak as a connoisseur; what most resembles nature pleases me most. Is it
not the aim of painting to copy nature? I like very much the full, fresh
countenance of the wife of Paul Veronese, painted by him. I like the
style of his faces. I adore Titian and Vandyck; but that poor Raphael!
Provided only no one knows what I write; people would take me for a fool;
I do not criticise Raphael; I do not understand him; in time I shall no
doubt learn to appreciate his beauties. The portrait of Pope Leo X.--I
think it is--is admirable, however." A surprising critique for a girl of
her age!
When seventeen she made her first picture of any importance. "While they
were playing cards last night I made a rough sketch of the players--and
this morning I transferred the sketch to canvas. I am delighted to have
made a picture of persons sitting down in different attitudes; I copied
the position of the hands and arms, the expressions of the countenance,
etc. I had never before done anything but heads, which I was satisfied to
scatter over the canvas like flowers."
Her enthusiasm for her art constantly increased. She was not willing to
acknowledge her semi-invalidism and was filled with the desire to do
something in art that would live after her. She was opposed by her
family, who wished her to be in fashionable society. At length she had
her way, and when not quite eighteen began to study regularly at the
Julian Academy. She worked eight and nine hours a day. Julian encouraged
her, she rejoiced in being with "real artists who have exhibited in the
Salon and whose pictures are bought," and declared herself "happy,
happy!" Before long M. Julian told her that she might become a great
artist, and the first time that Robert-Fleury saw her work and learned
how little she had studied, and that she had never before drawn from a
living model, he said: "Well, then, you have extraordinary talent for
painting; you are specially gifted, and I advise you to work hard."
Her masters always assured her of her talent, but she was much of the
time depressed. She admired the work of Mlle. Breslau and acknowledged
herself jealous of the Swiss artist. But after a year of study she took
the second prize in the Academy, and admitted that she ought to be
content.
Robert-Fleury took much interest in her work, and she began to hope to
equal Breslau; but she was as often despondent as she was happy, which no
doubt was due to her health, for she was already stricken with the malady
from which she died. Julian wondered why, with her talent, it was so
difficult for her to paint; to herself she seemed paralyzed.
In the autumn of 1879 she took a studio, and, besides her painting, she
essayed modelling. In 1880 her portrait of her sister was exhibited at
the Salon, and her mother and other friends were gratified by its
acceptance.
At one time Mlle. Bashkirtseff had suffered with her eyes, and, getting
better of that, she had an attack of deafness. For these reasons she
went, in the summer of 1880, to Mont-Dore for treatment, and was much
benefited in regard to her deafness, though not cured, and now the
condition of her lungs was recognized, and what she had realized for some
time was told to her family. She suffered greatly from the restrictions
of her condition. She could not read very much, as her eyes were not
strong enough to read and paint; she avoided people because of her
deafness; her cough was very tiresome and her breathing difficult.
At the Salon of 1881 her picture was well hung and was praised by
artists. In the autumn of that year she was very ill, but happily, about
the beginning of 1882, she was much better and again enthusiastic about
her painting. She had been in Spain and excited admiration in Madrid by
the excellence of her copy of "Vulcan," by Velasquez. January 15th she
wrote: "I am wrapped up in my art. I think I caught the sacred fire in
Spain at the same time that I caught the pleurisy. From being a student I
now begin to be an artist. This sudden influx of power puts me beside
myself with joy. I sketch future pictures; I dream of painting an
Ophelia. Potain has promised to take me to Saint-Anne to study faces of
the mad women there, and then I am full of the idea of painting an old
man, an Arab, sitting down singing to the accompaniment of a kind of
guitar; and I am thinking also of a large affair for the coming Salon--a
view of the Carnival; but for this it would be necessary that I should go
to Nice--to Naples first for the Carnival, and then to Nice, where I have
my villa, to paint it in open air."
She now met Bastien-Lepage, who, while he was somewhat severe in his
criticism of her work, told her seriously that she was "marvellously
gifted." This gave her great pleasure, and, indeed, just at this time the
whole tone of the journal and her art enthusiasm are most comforting
after the preceding despairing months. From this time until her death
her journal is largely occupied with her health, which constantly failed,
but her interest in art and her intense desire to do something worthy of
a great artist--something that Julian, Robert-Fleury, and, above all,
Bastien-Lepage, could praise, seemed to give her strength, and, in spite
of the steady advance of the fell tuberculosis from which she was dying,
she worked devotedly.
She had a fine studio in a new home of the family, and was seized with an
ardent desire to try sculpture--she did a little in this art--but that
which proved to be her last and best work was her contribution to the
Salon of 1884. This brought her to the notice of the public, and she had
great pleasure, although mingled with the conviction of her coming death
and the doubts of her ability to do more. Of this time she writes: "Am I
satisfied? It is easy to answer that question; I am neither satisfied nor
dissatisfied. My success is just enough to keep me from being unhappy.
That is all."
Again: "I have just returned from the Salon. We remained a long time
seated on a bench before the picture. It attracted a good deal of
attention, and I smiled to myself at the thought that no one would ever
imagine the elegantly dressed young girl seated before it, showing the
tips of her little boots, to be the artist. Ah, all this is a great deal
better than last year! Have I achieved a success, in the true, serious
meaning of the word? I almost think so."
The picture was called the "Meeting," and shows seven gamins talking
together before a wooden fence at the corner of a street. Francois Coppee
wrote of it: "It is a _chef d'oeuvre_, I maintain. The faces and the
attitudes of the children are strikingly real. The glimpse of meagre
landscape expresses the sadness of the poorer neighborhoods."
Previous to this time, her picture of two boys, called "Jean and
Jacques," had been reproduced in the Russian _Illustration_, and she now
received many requests for permission to photograph and reproduce her
"Meeting," and connoisseurs made requests to be admitted to her studio.
All this gratified her while it also surprised. She was at work on a
picture called "Spring," for which she went to Sevres, to paint in the
open.
Naturally she hoped for a Salon medal, and her friends encouraged her
wish--but alas! she was cruelly disappointed. Many thought her unfairly
treated, but it was remembered that the year before she had publicly
spoken of the committee as "idiots"!
People now wished to buy her pictures and in many ways she realized that
she was successful. How pathetic her written words: "I have spent six
years, working ten hours a day, to gain what? The knowledge of all I have
yet to learn in my art, and a fatal disease!"
It is probable that the "Meeting" received no medal because it was
suspected that Mlle. Bashkirtseff had been aided in her work. No one
could tell who had originated this idea, but as some medals had been
given to women who did not paint their pictures alone, the committee were
timid, although there seems to have been no question as to superiority.
A friendship had grown up between the families Bashkirtseff and
Bastien-Lepage. Both the great artist and the dying girl were very ill,
but for some time she and her mother visited him every two or three days.
He seemed almost to live on these visits and complained if they were
omitted. At last, ill as Bastien-Lepage was, he was the better able of
the two to make a visit. On October 16th she writes of his being brought
to her and made comfortable in one easy-chair while she was in another.
"Ah, if I could only paint!" he said. "And I?" she replied. "There is the
end to this year's picture!"
These visits were continued. October 20th she writes of his increasing
feebleness. She wrote no more, and in eleven days was dead.
In 1885 the works of Marie Bashkirtseff were exhibited. In the catalogue
was printed Francois Coppee's account of a visit he had made her mother a
few months before Marie's death. He saw her studio and her works, and
wrote, after speaking of the "Meeting," as follows:
"At the Exhibition--Salon--before this charming picture, the public had
with a unanimous voice bestowed the medal on Mlle. B., who had been
already 'mentioned' the year before. Why was this verdict not confirmed
by the jury? Because the artist was a foreigner? Who knows? Perhaps
because of her wealth. This injustice made her suffer, and she
endeavored--the noble child--to avenge herself by redoubling her efforts.
"In one hour I saw there twenty canvases commenced; a hundred
designs--drawings, painted studies, the cast of a statue, portraits which
suggested to me the name of Frans Hals, scenes made from life in the
open streets; notably one large sketch of a landscape--the October mist
on the shore, the trees half stripped, big yellow leaves strewing the
ground. In a word, works in which is incessantly sought, or more often
asserts itself, the sentiment of the sincerest and most original art, and
of the most personal talent."
Mathilde Blind, in her "Study of Marie Bashkirtseff," says: "Marie loved
to recall Balzac's questionable definition that the genius of observation
is almost the whole of human genius. It was natural it should please her,
since it was the most conspicuous of her many gifts. As we might expect,
therefore, she was especially successful as a portrait painter, for she
had a knack of catching her sitter's likeness with the bloom of nature
yet fresh upon it. All her likenesses are singularly individual, and we
realize their character at a glance. Look, for example, at her portrait
of a Parisian swell, in irreproachable evening dress and white kid
gloves, sucking his silver-headed cane, with a simper that shows all his
white teeth; and then at the head and bust of a Spanish convict, painted
from life at the prison in Granada. Compare that embodiment of
fashionable vacuity with this face, whose brute-like eyes haunt you with
their sadly stunted look. What observation is shown in the painting of
those heavily bulging lips, which express weakness rather than wickedness
of disposition--in those coarse hands engaged in the feminine occupation
of knitting a blue and white stocking!"
BAUCK, JEANNA. Born in Stockholm in 1840. Portrait and landscape
painter. In 1863 she went to Dresden, and studied figure work with
Professor Ehrhardt; later she moved to Duesseldorf, where she devoted
herself to landscape under Flamm, and in 1866 she settled in Munich,
where she has since remained, making long visits to Paris, Venice, and
parts of Switzerland. Her later work is marked by the romantic influence
of C. Ludwig, who was for a time her instructor, but she shows unusual
breadth and sureness in dealing with difficult subjects, such as dusky
forests with dark waters or bare ruins bordered with stiff, ghost-like
trees. Though not without talent and boldness, she lacks a feeling for
style.
BAUERLE, MISS A.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BAXTER, MARTHA WHEELER.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BEALE, MARY. 1632-97. This artist was the daughter of the Rev. Mr.
Cradock. She married Mr. Beale, an artist and a color-maker. She studied
under Sir Peter Lely, who obtained for her the privilege of copying some
of Vandyck's most famous works.
Mrs. Beale's portraits of Charles II., Cowley, and the Duke of Norfolk
are in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and that of Archbishop
Tillotson is in Lambeth Palace. This portrait was the first example of an
ecclesiastic represented as wearing a wig instead of the usual silk coif.
Her drawing was excellent and spirited, her color strong and pure, and
her portraits were sought by many distinguished persons.
Several poems were written in praise of this artist, in one of which, by
Dr. Woodfall, she is called "Belasia." Her husband, Charles Beale, an
inferior artist, was proud of his wife, and spent much time in recording
the visits she received, the praises lavished on her, and similar matters
concerning her art and life. He left more than thirty pocket-notebooks
filled with these records, and showed himself far more content that his
wife should be appreciated than any praise of himself could have made
him.
BEAURY-SAUREL, MME. AMELIE. Prize of honor at Exposition of Black
and White, 1891; third-class medal, Salon, 1883; bronze medal,
Exposition, 1889. Born at Barcelona, of French parents. Pupil of Julian
Academy. Among her principal portraits are those of Leon Say, Felix
Voisin, Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire, Mme. Sadi-Carnot, Coralie Cohen,
Princess Ghika, etc. She has also painted the "Two Vanquished Ones," "A
Woman Physician," and a "Souvenir of a Bull-Fight," pastel, etc.
This artist has also contributed to several magazines. At the Salon of
the Artistes Francais, 1902, she exhibited a portrait and a picture of
"Hamlet"; in 1903 a picture, "In the Train." Mme. Beaury-Saurel is also
Mme. Julian, wife of the head of the Academy in which she was educated.
BEAUX, CECILIA. Mary Smith prize at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, 1885, 1887, 1891, 1892; gold medal, Philadelphia Art Club, 1893;
Dodge prize, National Academy of Design, 1893; bronze medal, Carnegie
Institute, 1896; first-class gold medal, $1,500, Carnegie Institute,
1899; Temple gold medal, Pennsylvania Academy, 1900; gold medal, Paris
Exposition, 1900; gold medal, (?) 1901. Associate of National Academy of
Design, member of Society of American Artists, associate of Societe des
Beaux-Arts, Paris. Born in Philadelphia. Studied under Mrs. T. A.
Janvier, Adolf van der Weilen, and William Sartain in Philadelphia; under
Robert-Fleury, Bouguereau, and Benjamin-Constant, in Paris.
Her portraits are numerous. In 1894 she exhibited a portrait of a child
at the Exhibition of the Society of American Artists, which was much
admired and noticed in the _Century Magazine_, September, 1894, as
follows: "Few artists have the fresh touch which the child needs and the
firm and rapid execution which allows the painter to catch the fleeting
expression and the half-forms which make child portraits at once the
longing and the despair of portrait painters. Miss Beaux's technique is
altogether French, sometimes reminding me a little of Carolus Duran and
of Sargent; but her individuality has triumphed over all suggestions of
her foreign masters, and the combination of refinement and strength is
altogether her own."
Seven years later, in the _International Studio_, September, 1901, we
read: "The mention of style suggests a reference to the portraits by Miss
Cecilia Beaux, while the allusion to characterization suggests at the
same time their limitation. The oftener one sees her 'Mother and
Daughter,' which gained the gold medal at Pittsburg in 1899 and the gold
medal also at last year's Paris Exposition, the less one feels inclined
to accept it as a satisfactory example of portraiture. Magnificent
assurance of method it certainly has, controlled also by a fine sobriety
of feeling, so that no part of the ensemble impinges upon the due
importance of the other parts; it is a balanced, dignified picture. But
in its lack of intimacy it is positively callous. One has met these
ladies on many occasions, but with no increase of acquaintanceship or
interest on either side--our meetings are sterile of any human interest.
So one turns with relief to Miss Beaux's other picture of 'Dorothea and
Francesca'--an older girl leading a younger one in the steps of a dance.
They are not concerned with us, but at least interested in one another;
and we can attach ourselves, if only as outsiders, to the human interest
involved.
"These pictures suggest a moment's consideration of the true meaning of
the term 'style' as applied to painting. Is it not more than the mere
ableness of method, still more than the audacity of brush work, that
often passes for style? Is it possible to dissociate the manner of a
picture from its embodiment of some fact or idea? For it to have style in
the full sense of the word, surely it must embody an expression of life
as serious and thorough as the method of record."--_Charles H. Caffin_.
In the _International Studio_ of March, 1903, we read: "The portrait of
Mrs. Roosevelt, by Miss Cecilia Beaux, seemed to me to be one of the
happiest of her creations. Nothing could exceed the skill and daintiness
with which the costume is painted, and the characterization of the head
is more sympathetic than usual, offering a most winsome type of
beautiful, good womanhood. A little child has been added to the
picture--an afterthought, I understand, and scarcely a fortunate one; at
least in the manner of its presentment. The figure is cleverly merged in
half shadow, but the treatment of the face is brusque, and a most
unpleasant smirk distorts the child's mouth. It is the portrait of the
mother that carries the picture, and its superiority to many of Miss
Beaux's portraits consists in the sympathy with her subject which the
painter has displayed."--_Charles H. Caffin_.
A writer in the _Mail and Express_ says: "Miss Beaux has approached the
task of painting the society woman of to-day, not as one to whom this
type is known only by the exterior, but with a sympathy as complete as a
similar tradition and an artistic temperament will allow. Thus she starts
with an advantage denied to all but a very few American portrait
painters, and this explains the instinctive way in which she gives to her
pictured subjects an air of natural ease and good breeding."
Miss Beaux's picture of "Brighton Cats" is so excellent that one almost
regrets that she has not emulated Mme. Ronner's example and left
portraits of humans to the many artists who cannot paint cats!
[_No reply to circular_.]
BECK, CAROL H. Mary Smith prize at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, 1899. Fellow of above Academy and member of the Plastic Club,
Philadelphia. Born in Philadelphia. Studied in schools of Pennsylvania
Academy, and later in Dresden and Paris.
Miss Beck paints portraits and her works have been frequently exhibited.
Her portraits are also seen in the University of Pennsylvania, in the
Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia, in Wesleyan College, at the
capitols of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and other public places, as well
as in many private homes.
Miss Beck edited the Catalogue of the Wilstach Collection of Paintings in
Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.
BECKINGTON, ALICE.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BEERNAERTS, EUPHROSINE. Landscape painter. In 1873 she won a medal
at Vienna, in 1875 a gold medal at the Brussels Salon, and still other
medals at Philadelphia (1876), Sydney (1879), and Teplitz (1879). She was
made Chevalier de l'Ordre de Leopold in 1881. Mlle. Beernaerts was born
at Ostend, 1831, and studied under Kuhner in Brussels. She travelled in
Germany, France, and Italy, and exhibited admirable landscapes at
Brussels, Antwerp, and Paris, her favorite subjects being Dutch. In 1878
the following pictures by her were shown in Paris: "Lisiere de bois dans
les Dunes (Zelande)," "Le Village de Domburg (Zelande)," and "Interieur
de bois a Oost-Kapel (Holland)." Other well-known works are "Die Campine"
and "Aus der Umgebung von Oosterbeck."
BEGAS, LUISE PARMENTIER. Born in Vienna. Pupil of Schindler and
Unger. She travelled extensively in Europe and the Orient, and spent some
time in Sicily. She married Adalbert Begas in 1877 and then established
her studio in Berlin. Her subjects are landscape, architectural
monuments, and interiors. Some of the latter are especially fine. Her
picture of the "Burial Ground at Scutari" was an unusual subject at the
time it was exhibited and attracted much attention.
Her rich gift in the use of color is best seen in her pictures of still
life and flowers. In Berlin, in 1890, she exhibited "Before the Walls of
Constantinople" and "From Constantinople," which were essentially
different from her earlier works and attracted much attention. "Taormina
in Winter" more nearly resembled her earlier pictures.
Fraeulein Parmentier also studied etching, in which art Unger was her
instructor. In her exquisite architectural pictures and landscapes she
has represented Italian motives almost exclusively. Among these are her
views of Venice and other South Italian sketches, which are also the
subjects of some of her etchings.
BELLE, MLLE. ANDREE. Member of the Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts.
Born in Paris. Pupil of Cazin. Paints in oils and pastels, landscapes
especially, of which she exhibited seventeen in June, 1902. The larger
part of these were landscape portraits, so to speak, as they were done on
the spots represented with faithfulness to detail. The subjects were
pleasing, and the various hours of day, with characteristic lighting,
unusually well rendered.
At the Salon des Beaux Arts, 1902, this artist exhibited a large pastel,
"A Halt at St. Mammes" and a "Souvenir of Bormes," showing the tomb of
Cazin. In 1903 she exhibited a pastel called "Calvary," now in the Museum
at Amiens, which has been praised for its harmony of color and the
manner in which the rainbow is represented. Her pictures of "Twilight"
and "Sunset" are unusually successful.
BENATO-BELTRAMI, ELISABETTA. Painter and sculptor of the nineteenth
century, living in Padua since 1858. Her talent, which showed itself
early, was first developed by an unknown painter named Soldan, and later
at the Royal Academy in Venice. She made copies of Guido, Sassoferrato
and Veronese, the Laokoon group, and the Hercules of Canova, and executed
a much-admired bas-relief called "Love and Innocence." Among her original
paintings are an "Atala and Chactas," "Petrarch's First Meeting with
Laura," a "Descent from the Cross" for the church at Tribano, a "St.
Sebastian," "Melancholy," a "St. Ciro," and many Madonnas. Her pictures
are noble in conception and firm in execution.
BENITO Y TEJADA, BENITA. Born in Bilboa, where she first studied
drawing; later she went to Madrid, where she entered the Escuela
superior. In the Exposition of 1876 at Madrid "The Guardian" was shown,
and in 1881 a large canvas representing "The First Step."
BERNHARDT, SARAH. In 1869 this famous actress watched
Mathieu-Meusnier making a bust. She made her criticisms and they were
always just. The sculptor told her that she had the eye of an artist and
should use her talent in sculpture. Not long after she brought to him a
medallion portrait of her aunt. So good was it that Mathieu-Meusnier
seriously encouraged her to persevere in her art. She was fascinated by
the thought of what might be possible for her, took a studio, and sent
to the Salon in 1875 a bust, which attracted much attention. In 1876 she
exhibited "After the Tempest," the subject taken from the story of a poor
woman who, having buried two sons, saw the body of her last boy washed
ashore after a storm. This work was marvellously effective, and a great
future as a sculptress was foretold for the "divine Sara." At the Salon
of 1878 she exhibited two portrait busts in bronze.
This remarkable woman is a painter also, and exhibited a picture called
"La jeune Fille et la Mort." One critic wrote of it: "Sarah's picture
shows very considerable feeling for color and more thought than the vast
majority of modern paintings. The envious and evil speakers, who always
want to say nasty things, pretend to trace in the picture very frequent
touches of Alfred Stevens, who has been Sarah's master in painting, as
Mathieu-Meusnier was in sculpture. However that may be, Sarah has posed
her figures admirably and her coloring is excellent. It is worthy of
notice that, being as yet a comparative beginner, she has not attempted
to give any expression to the features of the young girl over whose
shoulder Death is peeping."
One of the numerous ephemeral journals which the young and old jeunesse
of the Latin Quarter is constantly creating has made a very clever
caricature of the picture in a sort of Pompeian style. Death is
represented by the grinning figure of Coquelin aine. The legend is "'La
Jeune Fille et la Mort,' or Coquelin aine, presenting Sarah Bernhardt the
bill of costs of her fugue." In other words, Coquelin is Death, handing
to Sarah the undertaker's bill--300,000 francs--for her civil burial at
the Comedie Francaise.
BETHUNE, LOUISE. This architect, whose maiden name was Blanchard,
was born in Waterloo, New York, 1856. She studied drawing and
architecture, and in 1881 opened an office, being the first woman
architect in the United States. Since her marriage to Robert A. Bethune
they have practised their art together. Mrs. Bethune is the only woman
holding a fellowship in the American Institute of Architects.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BEVERIDGE, KUeHNE. Honorable mention in Paris twice. Born in
Springfield, Illinois. Studied under William R. O'Donovan in New York,
and under Rodin in Paris.
Among her works are a statue called "Rhodesia," "Rough Rider Monument," a
statue called "Lascire," which belongs to Dr. Jameson, busts of Cecil
Rhodes, King Edward VII., Grover Cleveland, Vice-President Stevenson,
Joseph Jefferson, Buffalo Bill, General Mahon, hero of Mafeking, Thomas
L. Johnson, and many others.
Miss Beveridge was first noticed as an artist in this country in 1892,
when her busts of ex-President Cleveland and Mr. Jefferson called
favorable attention to her.
In 1899 she married Charles Coghlan, and soon discovered that he had a
living wife at the time of her marriage and obtained a divorce. Before
she went to South Africa Miss Beveridge had executed several commissions
for Cecil Rhodes and others living in that country.
Her mother is now the Countess von Wrede, her home being in Europe,
where her daughter has spent much time. She has married the second time,
an American, Mr. Branson, who resides at Johannesburg, in the Transvaal.
BIFFIN, SARAH. 1784-1850. It seems a curious fact that several
persons born without arms and hands have become reputable artists. This
miniature painter was one of these. Her first teacher, a man named Dukes,
persuaded her to bind herself to live in his house and give her time to
his service for some years. Later, when the Earl of Morton made her
acquaintance, he proved to her that her engagement was not legally
binding and wished her to give it up; but Miss Biffin was well treated by
the Dukes and preferred to remain with them.
The Earl of Morton, however, caused her to study under Mr. Craig, and she
attained wonderful excellence in her miniatures. In 1821 the Duke of
Sussex, on behalf of the Society of Arts, presented her with a prize
medal for one of her pictures.
She remained sixteen years with the Dukes, and during this time never
received more than five pounds a year! After leaving them she earned a
comfortable income. She was patronized by George III. and his successors,
and Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort were her generous patrons, as
well as many other distinguished persons.
After the death of the Earl of Morton she had no other friend to aid her
in getting commissions or selling her finished pictures, and she moved to
Liverpool. A small annuity was purchased for her, which, in addition to
the few orders she received, supported her until her death at the age of
sixty-six. Her miniatures have been seen in loan collections in recent
years. Her portrait of herself, on ivory, was exhibited in such a
collection at South Kensington.
BILDERS, MARIE. Family name Van Bosse. Born in Amsterdam, 1837; died
in Wiesbaden, 1900. Pupil of Van de Sande-Bakhuyzen, Bosboom, and
Johannes W. Bilders. Settled in Oosterbeck, and painted landscapes from
views in the neighborhood. This artist was important, and her works are
admired especially by certain Dutch artists who are famous in all
countries. These facts are well known to me from good authority, but I
fail to find a list of her works or a record of their present
position.[1]
[Footnote 1: See Appendix.]
BILINSKA, ANNA. Received the small gold medal at Berlin in 1891, and
won distinguished recognition at other international exhibitions in
Berlin and Munich by her portraits and figure studies. She was born in
Warsaw in 1858, and died there in 1893. She studied in Paris, where she
quickly became a favorite painter of aristocratic Russians and Poles. Her
pictures are strong and of brilliant technique.
BIONDI, NICOLA. Born at Capua, 1866. This promising young Italian
painter was a pupil of the Institute of Fine Arts in Naples. One of her
pictures, called "Una partita," was exhibited at Naples and attracted
much attention. It was purchased by Duke Martini. Another, "Ultima
Prova," was exhibited in Rome and favorably noticed.
BLAU, TINA. Honorable mention in Paris, 1883, for her "Spring in
the Prater." Her "Land Party" is in the possession of the Emperor of
Austria, and "In Spring-time" belongs to the Prince Regent of Bavaria.
This talented landscape painter was born in Vienna, 1847. She was a pupil
of Schaeffer in Vienna, and of W. Lindenschmitt in Munich. After
travelling in Austria, Holland, and Italy, she followed her predilection
for landscape, and chose her themes in great part from those countries.
In 1884 she married Heinrich Lang, painter of battle scenes (who died in
1891), and she now works alternately in Munich and Vienna. In 1890 she
gave an exhibition of her pictures in Munich; they were thought to show
great vigor of composition and color and much delicacy of artistic
perception. Her foreign scenes, especially, are characterized by unusual
local truth and color. Among her best works are "Studies from the Prater
in Vienna," "Canal at Amsterdam," "Harvest Day in Holland," "The Arch of
Titus in Rome," "Street in Venice," and "Late Summer."
BLOCH, MME. ELISA. Honorable mention, 1894. Officer of public
instruction, Commander of the Order of the Liberator; Chevalier of the
Order of the Dragon of Annam. Born at Breslau, Silesia, 1848. Pupil of
Chapu. She first exhibited at the Salon of 1878, a medallion portrait of
M. Bloch; this was followed by "Hope," the "Golden Age," "Virginius
Sacrificing his Daughter," "Moses Receiving the Tables of the Law," etc.
Mme. Bloch has made numerous portrait busts, among them being the kings
of Spain and Portugal, Buffalo Bill, C. Flammarion, etc.
At the Salon of the Artistes Francais, 1903, Mme. Bloch exhibited a
"Portrait of M. Frederic Passy, Member of the Institute."
BOCCARDO, LINA ZERBINAH. Rome.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BOEMM, RITTA. A Hungarian artist. Has been much talked of in
Dresden. She certainly possesses distinguished talents, and is easily in
the front rank of Dresden women artists. Her gouache pictures dealing
with Hungarian subjects, a "Village Street," a "Peasant Farm," a
"Churchyard," exhibited at Dresden in 1892, were well drawn and full of
sentiment, but lacking in color sense and power. She works unevenly and
seems pleased when she succeeds in setting a scene cleverly. She paints
portraits also, mostly in pastel, which are spirited, but not especially
good likenesses. What she can do in the way of color may be seen in her
"Village Street in Winter," a picture of moderate size, in which the
light is exquisite; unfortunately most of her painting is less admirable
than this.
BOISSONNAS, MME. CAROLINE SORDET. Honorable mention at the Salon of
Lyons, 1897. Member of the Exposition Permanente Amis des Beaux-Arts,
Geneva. Born in Geneva. Pupil of the School of Fine Arts, Geneva, under
Prof. F. Gillet and M. E. Ravel.
This artist paints portraits principally. She has been successful, and
her pictures are in Geneva, Lausanne, Vevey, Paris, Lyons, Marseilles,
Dresden, Naples, etc.
BOMPIANI-BATTAGLIA, CLELIA. Born in Rome, 1847. Pupil of her
father, Roberto Bompiani, and of the professors in the Academy of St.
Luke. The following pictures in water-colors have established her
reputation as an artist: "Confidential Communication," 1885; the
"Fortune-Teller," 1887; "A Public Copyist," 1888; and "The Wooing," 1888.
BONHEUR, JULIETTE--MME. PEYROL. Born at Paris. Sister of Rosa
Bonheur, and a pupil of her father. Among her pictures are "A Flock of
Geese," "A Flock of Sheep Lying Down," and kindred subjects. The
last-named work was much remarked at the Salon of 1875. In 1878 she
exhibited "The Pool" and "The Mother's Kiss."
Mme. Peyrol was associated with her famous sister in the conduct of the
Free School of Design, founded by Rosa Bonheur in 1849.
BONHEUR, MARIE ROSALIE. 1822-99. Member of Antwerp Institute, 1868.
Salon medals, 1845, 1848, 1855, 1867; Legion of Honor, 1865; Leopold
Cross, 1880; Commander's Cross, Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic,
1880. Born in Bordeaux. She was taught drawing by her father, who,
perceiving that she had unusual talent, permitted her to give up
dressmaking, to which, much against her will, she had been apprenticed.
From 1855 her fame was established; she was greatly appreciated, and her
works competed for in England and the United States, as well as in
European countries.
Her chief merit is the actual truthfulness with which she represented
animals. Her skies might be bettered in some cases--the atmosphere of her
pictures was sometimes open to question--but her animals were
anatomically perfect and handled with such virility as few men have
excelled or even equalled. Her position as an artist is so established
that no quoted opinions are needed when speaking of her--she was one of
the most famous women of her century.
Her home at By was near Fontainebleau, where she lived quietly, and for
some years held gratuitous classes for drawing. She left, at her death, a
collection of pictures, studies, etchings, etc., which were sold by
auction in Paris soon after.
Her "Ploughing in the Nivernais," 1848, is in the Luxembourg Gallery;
"The Horse Fair," 1853, is seen in the National Gallery, London, in a
replica, the original being in the United States, purchased by the late
A. T. Stewart. Her "Hay Harvest in the Auvergne," 1855, is one of her
most important works. After 1867 Mlle. Bonheur did not exhibit at the
Salon until 1899, a few weeks before her death.
One must pay a tribute to this artist as a good and generous woman. She
founded the Free School of Design for Girls, and in 1849 took the
direction of it and devoted much of her valuable time to its interests.
How valuable an hour was to her we may understand when we remember that
Hamerton says: "I have seen work of hers which, according to the price
given, must have paid her a hundred pounds for each day's labor."
The story of her life is of great interest, and can be but slightly
sketched here.
She was afoot betimes in the morning, and often walked ten or twelve
miles and worked hard all day. The difficulty of reaching her models
proved such a hindrance to her that she conceived the idea of visiting
the abattoirs, where she could see animals living and dead and study
their anatomy.
It is not easy to imagine all the difficulties she encountered in doing
this--the many repulsive features of such places--while the company of
drovers and butchers made one of the disagreeables of her pursuits. Her
love for the animals, too, made it doubly hard for her to see them in the
death agony and listen to their pitiful cries for freedom.
In all this experience, however, she met no rude or unkind treatment. Her
drawings won the admiration of the men who watched her make them and they
treated her with respect. She pursued her studies in the same manner in
the stables of the Veterinary School at Alfort and in the Jardin des
Plantes.
At other times she studied in the country the quiet grazing herds, and,
though often mistaken for a boy on account of the dress she wore, she
inspired only admiration for her simplicity and frankness of manner,
while the graziers and horse-dealers respectfully regarded her and
wondered at her skill in picturing their favorite animals. Some very
amusing stories might be told of her comical embarrassments in her
country rambles, when she was determined to preserve her disguise and the
pretty girls were equally determined to make love to her!
Aside from all this laborious study of living animals, she obtained
portions of dead creatures for dissection; also moulds, casts, and
illustrated anatomical books; and, in short, she left no means untried
by which she could perfect herself in the specialty she had chosen. Her
devotion to study and to the practice of her art was untiring, and only
the most engrossing interest in it and an indomitable perseverance,
supplemented and supported by a physically and morally healthful
organization, could have sustained the nervous strain of her life from
the day when she was first allowed to follow her vocation to the time
when she placed herself in the front rank of animal painters.
A most charming picture is drawn of the life of the Bonheur family in the
years when Rosa was making her progressive steps. They lived in an humble
house in the Rue Rumfort, the father, Auguste, Isidore, and Rosa all
working in the same studio. She had many birds and a pet sheep. As the
apartment of the Bonheurs was on the sixth floor, this sheep lived on the
leads, and from time to time Isidore bore him on his shoulders down all
the stairs to the neighboring square, where the animal could browse on
the real grass, and afterward be carried back by one of the devoted
brothers of his mistress. They were very poor, but they were equally
happy. At evening Rosa made small models or illustrations for books or
albums, which the dealers readily bought, and by this means she added to
the family store for needs or pleasures.
In 1841, when Rosa was nineteen years old, she first experienced the
pleasures, doubts, and fears attendant upon a public exhibition of one's
work. Two small pictures, called "Goats and Sheep" and "Two Rabbits,"
were hung at the Salon and were praised by critics and connoisseurs. The
next year she sent three others, "Animals in a Pasture," "A Cow Lying in
a Meadow," and "A Horse for Sale." She continued to send pictures to the
Salon and to some exhibitions in other cities, and received several
bronze and silver medals.
In 1845 she sent twelve works to the Salon, accompanied by those of her
father and her brother Auguste, who was admitted that year for the first
time. In 1848 Isidore was added to the list, exhibiting a picture and a
group in marble, both representing "A Combat between a Lioness and an
African Horseman." And, finally, the family contributions were completed
when Juliette, now Madame Peyrol, added her pictures, and the works of
the five artists were seen in the same Exhibition.
In 1849 Rosa Bonheur's "Cantal Oxen" was awarded the gold medal, and was
followed by "Ploughing in the Nivernais," so well known the world over by
engravings and photographs. When the medal was assigned her, Horace
Vernet proclaimed her triumph to a brilliant assemblage, and also
presented to her a magnificent vase of Sevres porcelain, in the name of
the French Government. This placed her in the first rank of living
artists, and the triumph was of double value to her on account of the
happiness it afforded her father, to see this, his oldest child, of whose
future he had often despaired, taking so eminent a place in the artistic
world.
This year of success was also a year of sorrow, for before its end the
old Raymond had died. He had been for some time the director of the
Government School of Design for Girls, and, being freed from pecuniary
anxiety, he had worked with new courage and hope. After her father's
death Rosa Bonheur exhibited nothing for two years, but in 1853 she
brought out her "Horse Fair," which added to her fame.
She was perfectly at home in the mountains, and spent much time in the
huts of charcoal burners, huntsmen, or woodcutters, contented with the
food they could give her and happy in her study. Thus she made her
sketches for "Morning in the Highlands," "The Denizens of the Mountains,"
etc. She once lived six weeks with her party on the Spanish side of the
Pyrenees, where they saw no one save muleteers going and coming, with
their long lines of loaded mules. Their only food was frogs' legs, which
they prepared themselves, and the black bread and curdled milk which the
country afforded. At evening the muleteers would amuse the strangers by
dancing the national dances, and then repose in picturesque groups just
suited to artistic sketching. In Scotland and in Switzerland, as well as
in various portions of her own country, she had similar experiences, and
her "Hay-Making in Auvergne" proves that she was familiar with the more
usual phases of country life. At the Knowles sale in London, in 1865, her
picture of "Spanish Muleteers Crossing the Pyrenees," one of the results
of the above sojourn in these mountains, sold for two thousand guineas,
about ten thousand dollars. I believe that, in spite of the large sums of
money that she received, her habitual generosity and indifference to
wealth prevented her amassing a large fortune, but her fame as an artist
and her womanly virtues brought the rewards which she valued above
anything that wealth could bestow--such rewards as will endure through
centuries and surround the name of Rosa Bonheur with glory, rewards which
she untiringly labored to attain.
BONSALL, ELIZABETH F. First Toppan prize, and Mary Smith prize
twice, at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Member of Plastic Club,
Philadelphia. Born at Philadelphia. Studied at the above-named Academy
and in Paris; also at the Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, under Eakins,
Courtois, Collin, and Howard Pyle.
Miss Bonsall is well known for her pictures of cats. She illustrated the
"Fireside Sphinx," by Agnes Repplier. Her picture of "Hot Milk" is in the
Pennsylvania Academy; her "Suspense," in a private gallery in New York.
An interesting chapter in Miss Winslow's book, "Concerning Cats," is
called "Concerning Cat Artists," in which she writes: "Elizabeth Bonsall
is a young American artist who has exhibited some good cat pictures, and
whose work promises to make her famous some day if she does not 'weary in
well-doing.'"
Miss Bonsall has prepared a "Cat Calendar" and a "Child's Book about
Cats," which were promised to appear in the autumn of 1903.
BONSALL, MARY M. First Toppan prize at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts. Member of the Plastic Club, Philadelphia. Studied at above academy
under Vonnoh, De Camp, William Chase, and Cecilia Beaux.
This artist paints portraits, which are in private hands.
BONTE, PAULA. Born in Magdeburg, 1840, and from 1862 to 1864 was a
pupil of Pape in Berlin. She travelled and studied in Northern Italy and
Switzerland, and from these regions, as well as from Northern Germany,
took her subjects. She has exhibited pictures at various exhibitions, and
among her best works should be mentioned: "The Beach at Clovelly in
Devonshire," "From the Bernese Oberland," "The Riemenstalden Valley,"
etc.
BOOTT, ELIZABETH. Born in Cambridge. Miss Boott was one of those
pupils of William M. Hunt to whom he imparted a wonderful artistic
enthusiasm, energy, and devotion. After studying in Boston she studied in
Paris under Duveneck--whom she afterward married--and under Couture. Her
subjects were genre, still-life, and flowers, and were well considered.
Among her genre pictures are "An Old Man Reading," an "Old Roman
Peasant," and a "Girl with a Cat." When in Italy she painted a number of
portraits, which were successful. Miss Brewster, who lived in Rome, was
an excellent critic, and she wrote: "I must say a few words about a
studio I have lately visited--Miss Boott's. I saw there three very fine
portraits, remarkable for strength and character, as well as rich
coloring: one of Mr. Boott, one of Bishop Say, and the third of T.
Adolphus Trollope, the well-known writer and brother of the novelist,
Anthony Trollope. All are good likenesses and are painted with vigor and
skill, but the one of Mr. Trollope is especially clever. Trollope's head
and face, though a good study, are not easy to paint, but Miss Boott has
succeeded to perfection. His head and beard are very fine. The face in
nature, but for the melancholy, kindly look about the eyes and mouth,
would be stern; Miss Boott has caught this expression and yet retained
all the firm character of the countenance. It is remarkable that an
artist who paints male heads with such a vigorous character should also
give to flowers softness, transparency, and grace. Nothing can be more
lovely than Miss Boott's flower studies. She has some delicious poppies
among wheat, lilies, thistles. She gets a transparency into these works
that is not facile in oil. A bunch of roses in a vase was as tender and
round and soft-colored as in nature. Among all the many studios of Rome I
do not know a more attractive one than Miss Boott's."
BORTOLAN, ROSA. Born at Treviso. She was placed in the Academy at
Venice by her family, where she had the benefit of such masters as
Grigoletti, Lipparini, Schiavoni, and Zandomeneghi. She early showed much
originality, and after making thorough preliminary studies she began to
follow her own ideas. She was of a mystical and contemplative turn of
mind, and a great proportion of her work has been of a religious nature.
Her pictures began to attract attention about 1847, and she had many
commissions for altar-pieces and similar work. The church of
Valdobbiadene, at Venice, contains "San Venanziano Fortunatus, Bishop."
"Saint Louis" was painted as a commission of Brandolin da Pieve; "Comte
Justinian Replying to Bonaparte in Treviso" was a subscription picture
presented to Signor Zoccoletto. Portraits of the Countess
Canossa-Portalupi and her son, of Luigia Codemo, and of Luigi Giacomelli
are thought to possess great merit; while those of Dr. Pasquali (in the
Picture Gallery at Treviso) and Michelangelo Codemo have been judged
superior to those of Rosalba Carriera and Angelica Kauffmann. Her sacred
pictures, strong and good in color, are full of a mystical and spiritual
beauty. Her drawing is admirable and her treatment of detail highly
finished.
BORZINO, LEOPOLDINA. Milanese water-color painter. Has shown
excellent genre pictures at various exhibitions. "The Holiday" and the
"Return from Mass" were both exhibited and sold at Rome in 1883; "The Way
to Calvary" was seen at Venice in 1887. "The Rosary," "Anguish," and
"Going to the Fountain" are all distinguished by good color as well as by
grace and originality of composition.
BOUGUEREAU, MME. ELIZABETH JANE. See Gardner.
BOULANGER, MME. MARIE ELIZABETH. Medals at the Paris Salon in 1836
and 1839. Born in Paris, 1810. Her family name was Blavot, and after the
death of M. Boulanger she married M. Cave, director of the Academy of the
Beaux-Arts. Her picture of "The Virgin in Tears" is in the Museum of
Rouen; and "The Children's Tournament," a triptych, was purchased by the
Government.
BOURRILLON-TOURNAY, MME. JEANNE. Medal of the second class at
Exposition Universelle at Lyons; silver medal at Versailles; honorable
mention at Paris Salon, 1896; the two prizes of the Union des Femmes
Peintres et Sculpteurs--les Palmes Academique, 1895; the Rosette of an
Officer of the Public Instruction in 1902. Member of the Societe des
Artistes Francais, of the Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs, and of
the Association de Baron Taylor. Born at Paris, 1870. Pupil of Ferdinand
Humbert and G. C. Saintpierre.
This artist paints portraits, and among them are those of a "Young Girl,"
which belongs to the general Council of the Seine; one of the Senator
Theophile Roussel, of the Institute, and a portrait of an "Aged Lady,"
both purchased by the Government; one of M. Auguste Boyer, councillor of
the Court of Cassation, and many others.
At the Salon des Artistes Francais, 1902, Mme. Bourrillon-Tournay
exhibited two portraits, one being that of her mother; in 1903, that of
M. Boyer and one of Mme. B.
BOWEN, LOTA. Member of Society of Women Artists, London, the Tempera
Society, and the "91" Art Club. Born at Armley, Yorkshire. Studied in
Ludovici's studio, London; later in Rome under Santoro, and in the night
classes of the Circolo Artistico.
Her pictures are principally landscapes, and are chiefly in private
collections in England. Among the most important are "On the Venetian
Lagoons," "Old Stone Pines, Lido, Venice," "Evening on Lake Lugano,"
"Evening Glow on the Dolomites," "The Old Bird Fancier," "Moonrise on
Crowborough, Sussex." All these have been exhibited at the Academy.
"Miss Lota Bowen constantly receives most favorable notices of her works
in magazines and journals. She is devotedly fond of her art, and has
sought subjects for her brush in many European byways, as well as in
North Africa, Turkey, and Montenegro. She paints portraits and figure
subjects; has a broad, swinging brush and great love of 'tone.' Miss
Bowen has recently built a studio, in Kensington, after her own design.
She is in London from Christmas time to August, when she makes an annual
journey for sketching."
BOZZINO, CANDIDA LUIGIA. Silver medal at Piacenza. Born at Piacenza,
1853. Pupil of her father. Her portrait of Alessandro Manzoni was her
prize picture. The "Madonna of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" was painted on
a commission from the Bishop of Piacenza, who presented it to Pope Pius
IX.; after being exhibited at the Vatican, it was sent to the Bishop of
Jesi, for the church of Castelplanio. Other celebrated works of hers are
a "Holy Family," the "Madonna of Lourdes," and several copies of the "Via
Crucis," by Viganoni.
In 1881 this artist entered the Ursuline Convent at Piacenza, where she
continues to paint religious pictures.
BRACKEN, JULIA M. First prize for sculpture, Chicago, 1898;
appointed on staff of sculptors for the St. Louis Exposition. Member of
Arts Club, Western Society of Artists, Municipal Art League, and Krayle
Workshop, Chicago. Born at Apple River, Ill., 1871. Pupil of Chicago Art
Institute. Acted as assistant to Lorado Taft, 1887-92. Was much occupied
with the decorations for the Columbian Exposition, and executed on an
independent commission the statue of "Illinois Welcoming the Nations."
There are to be five portrait statues placed in front of the Educational
Building at St. Louis, each to be executed by a well-known artist. One of
these is to be the work of Miss Bracken, who is the only woman among
them. Miss Bracken has modelled an heroic portrait statue of President
Monroe; beside the figure is a globe, on which he points out the junction
of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BRACQUEMOND, MME. MARIE. Pupil of Ingres. A portrait painter, also
painter of genre subjects. At the Salon of 1875 she exhibited "The
Reading"; in 1874 "Marguerite." She has been much occupied in the
decoration of the Haviland faience, a branch of these works, at Auteuil,
being at one time in charge of her husband, Felix Bracquemond. In 1872 M.
Bracquemond was esteemed the first ceramic artist in France. An eminent
French critic said of M. and Mme. Bracquemond: "You cannot praise too
highly these two artists, who are as agreeable and as clever as they are
talented and esteemed."
Mme. Bracquemond had the faculty of employing the faience colors so well
that she produced a clearness and richness not attained by other artists.
The progress made in the Haviland faience in the seventies was very
largely due to Mme. Bracquemond, whose pieces were almost always sold
from the atelier before being fired, so great was her success.
BRANDEIS, ANTOINETTA. Many prizes at the Academy of Venice. Born of
Bohemian parents in Miscova, Galitza, 1849. Pupil of Iavurek, of Prague,
in the beginning of her studies, but her father dying and her mother
marrying again, she was taken to Venice, where she studied in the Academy
several years under Grigoletti, Moja, Bresolin, Nani, and Molmenti.
Although all her artistic training was received in Italy and she made
her first successes there, most of her works have been exhibited in
London, under the impression that she was better understood in England.
Annoyed by the commendation of her pictures "as the work of a woman," she
signed a number of her canvases Antonio Brandeis. Although she painted
religious subjects for churches, her special predilection is for views of
Venice, preferably those in which the gondola appears. She has studied
these in their every detail. "Il canale Traghetto de' San Geremia" is in
the Museum Rivoltella at Trieste. This and "Il canale dell' Abbazia della
Misericordia" have been much commended by foreign critics, especially the
English and Austrians. Other Venetian pictures are "La Chiese della
Salute," "Il canale de' Canalregio," and "La Pescaria."
BRESLAU, LOUISA CATHERINE. Gold medal at Paris Exposition, 1889;
gold medal at Paris Exposition, 1900. Chevalier of the Legion of Honor,
1901. Member of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts. A Swiss artist, who
made her studies at the Julian Academy under Robert-Fleury.
She has painted many portraits. Her picture "Under the Apple-Tree" is in
the Museum at Lausanne; the "Little Girls" or "The Sisters" and the
"Child Dreamer"--exhibited at Salon, 1902--are in the Gallery of the
Luxembourg; the "Gamins," in the Museum at Carpentras; the "Tea Party,"
at the Ministry of the Interior, Paris.
At the Salon of 1902 Mlle. Breslau exhibited six pictures, among which
were landscapes, two representing September and October at Saint-Cloud;
two of fruit and flowers; all of which were admired, while the "Dreamer"
was honored with a place in the Luxembourg. In the same Salon she
exhibited six pictures in pastel: four portraits, and heads of a gamin
and of a little girl. The portrait of Margot is an ideal picture of a
happy child, seated at a table, resting her head on her left hand while
with the right she turns the leaves of a book. A toy chicken and a doll
are on the table beside her. In the Salon of 1903 she exhibited five
pictures of flowers and another called the "Child with Long Hair."
I was first interested in this artist by the frequent references to her
and her work in the journal of Marie Bashkirtseff. They were
fellow-pupils in the Julian Academy. Soon after she began her studies
there Marie Bashkirtseff writes: "Breslau has been working at the studio
two years, and she is twenty; I am seventeen, but Breslau had taken
lessons for a long time before coming here.... How well that Breslau
draws!"
"That miserable Breslau has composed a picture, 'Monday Morning, or the
Choice of a Model.' Every one belonging to the studio is in it--Julian
standing between Amalie and me. It is correctly done, the perspective is
good, the likenesses--everything. When one can do a thing like that, one
cannot fail to become a great artist. You have guessed it, have you not?
I am jealous. That is well, for it will serve as a stimulus to me."
"I am jealous of Breslau. She does not draw at all like a woman."
"I am terrified when I think of the future that awaits Breslau; it fills
me with wonder and sadness. In her compositions there is nothing
womanish, commonplace, or disproportioned. She will attract attention at
the Salon, for, in addition to her treatment of it, the subject itself
will not be a common one."
The above prophecy has been generously fulfilled. Mlle. Breslau is indeed
a poet in her ability to picture youth and its sweet intimacies, and she
does this so easily. With a touch she reveals the grace of one and the
affectations of another subject of her brush, and skilfully renders the
varying emotions in the faces of her pictures. Pleasure and suffering,
the fleeting thought of the child, the agitation of the young girl are
all depicted with rare truthfulness.
BREWSTER, ADA AUGUSTA.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BRICKDALE, MISS ELEANOR FORTESCUE.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BRICCI OR BRIZIO, PLAUTILLA. Very little is known of this Roman
artist of the seventeenth century, but that little marks her as an
unusually gifted woman, since she was a practical architect and a painter
of pictures. She was associated with her brother in some architectural
works in and near Rome, and was the only woman of her time in this
profession.
She is believed to have erected a small palace near the Porta San
Pancrazio, unaided by her brother, and is credited with having designed
in the Church of San Luigi de' Francesi the third chapel on the left
aisle, dedicated to St. Louis, and with having also painted the
altar-piece in this chapel.
BRIDGES, FIDELIA. Associate of the National Academy of Design in
1878, when but three other women were thus honored. Born in Salem,
Massachusetts. Studied with W. T. Richards in Philadelphia, and later in
Europe during one year. She exhibited her pictures from 1869 in
Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Her subjects were landscapes and
flowers. In 1871 she first painted in water-colors, which suited many of
her pictures better than oils. She was elected a member of the
Water-Color Society in 1875. To the Philadelphia Exposition, 1876, she
sent a "Kingfisher and Catkins," a "Flock of Snow Birds," and the "Corner
of a Rye-Field." Of the last a writer in the _Art Journal_ said: "Miss
Bridges' 'Edge of a Rye-Field,' with a foreground of roses and weeds, is
a close study, and shows that she is as happy in the handling of oil
colors as in those mixed with water."
Another critic wrote: "Her works are like little lyric poems, and she
dwells with loving touches on each of her buds, 'like blossoms atilt'
among the leaves."
Her pictures are in private collections, and are much valued by their
owners.
BROOKS, MARIA.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BROWNSCOMBE, JENNIE. Pupil of the National Academy and the Art
Students' League, New York, and of Henry Mosler in Paris.
Paints genre subjects, among which are: "Love's Young Dream," "Colonial
Minuet," "Sir Roger de Coverly at Carvel Hall," "Battle of Roses," etc.
The works of this artist have been reproduced in engravings and etchings,
and are well known in black and white. Her water-colors, too, have been
published in photogravure.
Miss Brownscombe exhibits at many American exhibitions and has had her
work accepted at the Royal Academy, London.
BROWNE, MATILDA. Honorable mention at Chicago, 1893; Dodge prize at
National Academy of Design, 1899; Hallgarten prize, 1901. Born in Newark,
New Jersey. Pupil of Miss Kate Greatorex; of Carleton Wiggins, New York;
of the Julian Academy, Paris; of H. S. Birbing in Holland, and of Jules
Dupre on the coast of France. When a child this artist lived very near
Thomas Moran and was allowed to spend much time in his studio, where she
learned the use of colors.
She exhibited her first picture at the National Academy of Design when
twelve years old, and has been a constant contributor to its exhibitions
since that time; also to the exhibitions of the American Water-Color
Society.
Her earliest pictures were of flowers, and during several years she had
no teacher. At length she decided to study battle painting, and, after a
summer under Carleton Wiggins, she went abroad, in 1890, and remained two
years, painting in the schools in winter and out of doors in summer. Miss
Browne exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts in 1890, and many of her
works have been seen in exhibits in this country. The Dodge prize was
awarded to a picture called "The Last Load," and the Hallgarten prize to
"Repose," a moonlight scene with cattle. Her pictures are in private
collections.
BROWN, MRS. AGNES--MRS. JOHN APPLETON BROWN. Born in Newburyport.
This artist paints in oils. Her subjects are landscapes, flowers, and
still life. She has also painted cats successfully.
I have a winter landscape by Mrs. Brown which is unusually attractive and
is often admired. She sends her works to the exhibitions of the Boston
Art Club and to some exhibitions in New York.
BROWNE, MME. HENRIETTE. Born at Paris; 1829-1901. Pupil of Chaplin.
The family name of this artist was Bouteiller, and she married M. Jules
de Saux, but as an artist used the name of an ancestress. Her pictures of
genre subjects very early attracted attention, especially in 1855, when
she sent to the Salon "A Brother of the Christian School," "School for
the Poor at Aix," "Mutual Instruction," and "Rabbits." Her works were
popular and brought good prices. In 1868 "The Sisters of Charity" sold
for L1,320.
In 1878 she exhibited "A Grandmother" and "Convalescence." Her Oriental
scenes were much admired. Among these were "A Court in Damascus," "Nubian
Dancing Girls," and a "Harem in Constantinople." Mme. Browne was also
skilful as an engraver.
T. Chasrel wrote in _L'Art_: "Her touch without over-minuteness has the
delicacy and security of a fine work of the needle. The accent is just
without that seeking for virile energy which too often spoils the most
charming qualities. The sentiment is discreet without losing its
intensity in order to attract public notice. The painting of Mme.
Henriette Browne is at an equal distance from grandeur and insipidity,
from power and affectation, and gathers from the just balance of her
nature some effects of taste and charm of which a parvenu in art would be
incapable."
The late Rev. Charles Kingsley wrote of the picture of the "Sisters of
Charity," of the sale of which I have spoken, as follows: "The picture
which is the best modern instance of this happy hitting of this golden
mean, whereby beauty and homely fact are perfectly combined, is in my
eyes Henrietta Browne's picture of the 'Sick Child and the Sisters of
Charity.' I know not how better to show that it is easy to be at once
beautiful and true, if one only knows how, than by describing that
picture. Criticise it, I dare not; for I believe that it will surely be
ranked hereafter among the very highest works of modern art. If I find no
fault in it, it is because I have none to find; because the first sight
of the picture produced in me instantaneous content and confidence. There
was nothing left to wish for, nothing to argue about. The thing was what
it ought to be, and neither more nor less, and I could look on it, not as
a critic, but as a learner only."
This is praise indeed from an Englishman writing of a Frenchwoman's
picture--an Englishman with no temptation to say what he did not think;
and we may accept his words as the exact expression of the effect the
picture made on him.
BRUNE, MME. AIMEE PAGES. Medal of second class at Salon of 1831;
first class in 1841. Born in Paris. 1803-66. Pupil of Charles Meynier.
Painted historical and genre subjects. In 1831 she exhibited "Undine,"
the "Elopement," "Sleep," and "Awakening." In 1841 a picture of "Moses."
She painted several Bible scenes, among which were the "Daughter of
Jairus" and "Jephthah's Daughter."
BUECHMANN, FRAU HELENE. Her pictures have been seen at some annual
exhibitions in Germany, but she is best known by her portraits of
celebrated persons. Born in Berlin, 1849. Pupil of Steffeck and Gussow.
Among her portraits are those of Princess Carolath-Beuthen, Countess
Bruehl, Prince and Princess Biron von Kurland, and the youngest son of
Prince Radziwill. She resides in Brussels.
BUTLER, MILDRED A. Associate of the Royal Society of Painters in
Water-Colors and of the Society of Lady Artists. Pupil of Naftel,
Calderon, and Garstin. Has exhibited at the Royal Academy and New
Gallery. Her picture called the "Morning Bath," exhibited at the Academy
in 1896, was purchased under the Chantry Bequest and is in the Tate
Gallery. It is a water-color, valued at L50.
Miss Butler exhibited "A Corner of the Bargello, Florence," at the London
Academy in 1903.
[_No reply to circular_.]
BUTLER, LADY ELIZABETH. Born in Lausanne about 1844. Elizabeth
Southerden Thompson. As a child this artist was fond of drawing soldiers
and horses. She studied at the South Kensington School, at Florence under
Bellucci, and in Rome. She worked as an amateur some years, first
exhibiting at the Academy in 1873 her picture called "Missing," which was
praised; but the "Roll-Call," of the following year, placed her in the
front rank of the Academy exhibitors. It was purchased by the Queen and
hung in Windsor Castle. She next exhibited the "Twenty-Eighth Regiment at
Quatre Bras," the "Return from Inkerman," purchased by the Fine Art
Society for L3,000. This was followed by kindred subjects.
In 1890 Lady Butler exhibited "Evicted," in 1891 the "Camel Corps," in
1892 "Halt in a Forced March," in 1895 the "Dawn of Waterloo," in 1896
"Steady the Drums and Fifes," in 1902 "Tent Pegging in India," in 1903
"Within Sound of the Guns."
In 1869 she painted a religious picture called the "Magnificat." In
water-colors she has painted "Sketches in Tuscany" and several pictures
of soldiers, among which are "Scot's Grays Advancing" and "Cavalry at a
Gallop."
Lady Butler has recently appeared as an author, publishing "Letters from
the Holy Land," illustrated by sixteen most attractive drawings in
colors. The _Spectator_ says: "Lady Butler's letters and diary, the
outcome of a few weeks' journeyings in Palestine, express simply and
forcibly the impressions made on a devout and cultivated mind by the
scenes of the Holy Land."
In 1875 Ruskin wrote in "Notes of the Academy": "I never approached a
picture with more iniquitous prejudice against it than I did Miss
Thompson's--'Quatre Bras'--partly because I have always said that no
woman could paint, and secondly because I thought what the public made
such a fuss about _must_ be good for nothing. But it is Amazon's work
this, no doubt of it, and the first fine pre-Raphaelite picture of battle
we have had; profoundly interesting, and showing all manner of
illustrative and realistic faculty.... The sky is most tenderly painted,
and with the truest outline of cloud of all in the Exhibition; and the
terrific piece of gallant wrath and ruin on the extreme left, when the
cuirassier is catching round the neck of his horse as he falls, and the
convulsed fallen horse, seen through the smoke below, is wrought through
all the truth of its frantic passion with gradations of color and shade
which I have not seen the like of since Turner's death."
The _Art Journal_, 1877, says: "'Inkerman' is simply a marvellous
production when considered as the work of a young woman who was never on
the field of battle.... No matter how many figures she brings into the
scene, or how few, you may notice character in each figure, each is a
superb study."
Her recent picture, "Within Sound of the Guns," shows a company of
mounted soldiers on the confines of a river in South Africa.
[_No reply to circular_.]
CAMERON, KATHERINE. Member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters
in Water-Colors; Modern Sketch Club, London; Ladies' Art Club, Glasgow.
Born in Glasgow. Studied at Glasgow School of Art under Professor
Newbery, and at the Colarossi Academy, Paris, under Raphael Collin and
Gustave Courtois.
Her pictures are of genre subjects principally, and are in private
collections. "'The Sea Urchin,'" Miss Cameron writes, "is in one of the
public collections of Germany. I cannot remember which." She also says:
"Except for my diploma R. S. W. and having my drawings sometimes in
places of honor, usually on the line, and often reproduced in magazines,
I have no other honors. I have no medals."
In the _Magazine of Art_, June, 1903, her picture of a "Bull Fight in
Madrid" is reproduced. It is full of action and true to the life of these
horrors as I have seen them in Madrid. Doubtless the color is brilliant,
as the costumes of the toreadors are always so, and there are two in this
picture. This work was displayed at the exhibition of the Royal Scottish
Academy, June, 1903--of which a writer says: "A feeling for color has
always been predominant in the Scottish school, and it is here
conspicuously displayed, together with a method of handling, be it in the
domain of figure or landscape, which is personal to the artist and not a
mere academic tradition."
In the _Studio_ of May, 1903, J. L. C., who writes of the same
exhibition, calls this picture "admirable in both action and color."
CARL, KATE A. Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1890; Chevalier of the
Legion of Honor, 1896; honorable mention, Paris Exposition, 1900. Associe
de la Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Born in New Orleans. Pupil of
Julian Academy and of Courtois in Paris.
This artist's name has been made prominent by the fact of her being
selected to paint a portrait of the Empress of China. Miss Carl has
frequently exhibited at the Salon. In 1902 she sent portraits in both oil
and water-colors. One of these works, called "Angelina," impresses one as
a faithful portrait of a model. She is seated and gracefully posed--the
face is in a full front view, the figure turned a little to one side and
nude to the waist, the hands are folded on the lap and hold a flower, a
gauze-like drapery falls about the left shoulder and the arms, but does
not conceal them; the background is a brocade or tapestry curtain.
I have seen a reproduction only, and cannot speak of the color. The whole
effect of the picture is attractive. For the purpose of painting the
portrait of the Chinese Empress, Miss Carl was assigned an apartment in
the palace. It is said that the picture was to be finished in December,
1903, and will probably be seen at the St. Louis Exhibition.
[_No reply to circular_.]
CARLISLE, MISTRESS ANNE. Died in 1680. Was a favorite artist of King
Charles I. It is said that on one occasion the King bought a quantity of
ultramarine, for which he paid L500, and divided it between Vandyck and
Mistress Carlisle. Her copies after the Italian masters were of great
excellence.
She painted in oils as well as in water-colors. One of her pictures
represents her as teaching a lady to use the brush. When we remember that
Charles, who was so constantly in contact with Vandyck, could praise
Mistress Carlisle, we must believe her to have been a good painter.
Mistress Anne has sometimes been confounded with the Countess of
Carlisle, who was distinguished as an engraver of the works of Salvator
Rosa, etc.
CARPENTER, MARGARET SARAH. The largest gold medal and other honors
from the Society of Arts, London. Born at Salisbury, England. 1793-1872.
Pupil of a local artist in Salisbury when quite young. Lord Radnor's
attention was called to her talent, and he permitted her to copy in the
gallery of Longford Castle, and advised her sending her pictures to
London, and later to go there herself. She made an immediate success as a
portrait painter, and from 1814 during fifty-two years her pictures were
annually exhibited at the Academy with a few rare exceptions.
Her family name was Geddis; her husband was Keeper of the Prints and
Drawings in the British Museum more than twenty years, and after his
death his wife received a pension of L100 a year in recognition of his
services.
Her portraits were considered excellent as likenesses; her touch was
firm, her color brilliant, and her works in oils and water-colors as well
as her miniatures were much esteemed. Many of them were engraved. Her
portrait of the sculptor Gibson is in the National Portrait Gallery,
London. A life-size portrait of Anthony Stewart, miniature painter,
called "Devotion," and the "Sisters," portraits of Mrs. Carpenter's
daughters, with a picture of "Ockham Church," are at South Kensington.
She painted a great number of portraits of titled ladies which are in
the collections of their families. Among the more remarkable were those
of Lady Eastnor, 1825; Lady King, daughter of Lord Byron, 1835; Countess
Ribblesdale, etc.
Her portraits of Fraser Tytler, John Girkin, and Bonington are in the
National Portrait Gallery, London. In the South Kensington Gallery are
her pictures of "Devotion--St. Francis," which is a life-size study of
Anthony Stewart, the miniature painter; "The Sisters," "Ockham Church,"
and "An Old Woman Spinning."
CARPENTIER, MLLE. MADELEINE. Honorable mention, 1890; third-class
medal, 1896. Born in Paris, 1865. Pupil of Bonnefoy and of Jules Lefebvre
at the Julian Academy. Since 1885 this artist has exhibited many
portraits as well as flower and fruit pieces, these last in water-colors.
In 1896 her pictures were the "Communicants" and the "Candles," a pastel,
purchased by the city of Paris; "Among Friends" is in the Museum of
Bordeaux.
At the Salon of the Artistes Francais, 1902, Mlle. Carpentier exhibited a
picture called "Reflection," and in 1903 a portrait of Mme. L. T. and the
"Little Goose-Herders."
CARRIERA, ROSALBA, better known as Rosalba. Born in Venice
1675-1757--and had an eventful life. Her artistic talent was first
manifested in lace-weaving, which as a child she preferred before any
games or amusements. She studied painting under several masters,
technique under Antonio Balestra, pastel-painting with Antonio Nazari and
Diamantini, and miniature painting, in which she was especially
distinguished, was taught her by her brother-in-law, Antonio Pellegrini,
whom she later accompanied to Paris and London and assisted in the
decorative works he executed there.
Rosalba's fame in Venice was such that she was invited to the courts of
France and Austria, where she painted many portraits. She was honored by
election to the Academies of Rome, Bologna, and Paris.
This artist especially excelled in portraits of pretty women, while her
portraits of men were well considered. Among the most important were
those of the Emperor Charles, the kings of France and Denmark, and many
other distinguished persons, both men and women.
The Grand Duke of Tuscany asked for her own portrait for his gallery. She
represented herself with one of her sisters. Her face is noble and most
expressive, but, like many of her pictures, while the head is spirited
and characteristic, the rest of the figure and the accessories are weak.
A second portrait of herself--in crayons--is in the Dresden Gallery, and
is very attractive.
While in England Rosalba painted many portraits in crayon and pastel, in
which art she was not surpassed by any artist of her day.
Her diary of two years in Paris was published in Venice. It is curious
and interesting, as it sets forth the customs of society, and especially
those of artists of the period.
Returning to Venice, Rosalba suffered great depression and was haunted by
a foreboding of calamity. She lived very quietly. In his "Storia della
Pittura Veneziana," Zanetti writes of her at this time: "Much of interest
may be written of this celebrated and highly gifted woman, whose spirit,
in the midst of her triumphs and the brightest visions of happiness, was
weighed down by the anticipation of a heavy calamity. On one occasion she
painted a portrait of herself, the brow wreathed with leaves which
symbolized death. She explained this as an image of the sadness in which
her life would end."
Alas, this was but too prophetic! Before she was fifty years old she lost
her sight, and gradually the light of reason also, and her darkness was
complete.
An Italian writer tells the following story: "Nature had endowed Rosalba
with lofty aspirations and a passionate soul; her heart yearned for the
admiration which her lack of personal attraction forbade her receiving.
She fully realized her plainness before the Emperor Charles XI. rudely
brought it home to her. When presented to him by the artist Bertoli, the
Emperor exclaimed: 'She may be clever, Bertoli mio, this painter of
thine, but she is remarkably ugly.' From which it would appear that
Charles had not believed his mirror, since his ugliness far exceeded that
of Rosalba! Her dark eyes, fine brow, good expression, and graceful pose
of the head, as shown in her portrait, impress one more favorably than
would be anticipated from this story."
Many of Rosalba's works have been reproduced by engravings; a collection
of one hundred and fifty-seven of these are in the Dresden Gallery,
together with several of her pictures.
CASSATT, MARY. Born in Pittsburg. Studied in Pennsylvania schools,
and under Soyer and Bellay in Paris. She has lived and travelled much in
Europe, and her pictures, which are of genre subjects, include scenes in
France, Italy, Spain, and Holland.
Among her principal works are "La tasse de the," "Le lever du bebe,"
"Reading," "Mere et Enfant," and "Caresse Maternelle."
Miss Cassatt has exhibited at the Paris Salon, the National Academy, New
York, and various other exhibitions, but her works are rarely if ever
exhibited in recent days. It is some years since William Walton wrote of
her: "But in general she seems to have attained that desirable condition,
coveted by artists, of being able to dispense with the annual
exhibitions."
Miss Cassatt executed a large, decorative picture for the north tympanum
of the Woman's Building at the Columbian Exhibition.
A writer in the _Century Magazine_, March, 1899, says: "Of the colony of
American artists, who for a decade or two past have made Paris their
home, few have been more interesting and none more serious than Miss
Cassatt.... Miss Cassatt has found her true bent in her recent pictures
of children and in the delineation of happy maternity. These she has
portrayed with delicacy, refinement, and sentiment. Her technique appeals
equally to the layman and the artist, and her color has all the
tenderness and charm that accompanies so engaging a motif."
In November, 1903, Miss Cassatt held an exhibition of her works in New
York. At the winter exhibition of the Philadelphia Academy, 1904, she
exhibited a group, a mother and children, one child quite nude. Arthur
Hoeber described it as "securing great charm of manner, of color, and of
grace."
CATTANEO, MARIA. Bronze medal at the National Exposition, Parma,
1870; silver medal at Florence, 1871; silver medal at the centenary of
Ariosto at Ferrara. Made an honorary member of the Brera Academy, Milan,
1874, an honor rarely conferred on a woman; elected to the Academy of
Urbino, 1875. Born in Milan. Pupil of her father and of Angelo Rossi.
She excels in producing harmony between all parts of her works. She has
an exquisite sense of color and a rare technique. Good examples of her
work are "The Flowers of Cleopatra," "The Return from the Country," "An
Excursion by Gondola." She married the artist, Pietro Michis. Her picture
of the "Fish Market in Venice" attracted much attention when it appeared
in 1887; it was a most accurate study from life.
CHARPENTIER, CONSTANCE MARIE. Pupil of David. Her best known works
were "Ulysses Finding Young Astyanax at Hector's Grave" and "Alexander
Weeping at the Death of the Wife of Darius." These were extraordinary as
the work of a woman. Their size, with the figures as large as life, made
them appear to be ambitious, as they were certainly unusual. Her style
was praised by the admirers of David, to whose teaching she did credit.
The disposition of her figures was good, the details of her costumes and
accessories were admirably correct, but her color was hard and she was
generally thought to be wanting in originality and too close a follower
of her master.
CHARRETIE, ANNA MARIA. 1819-75. Her first exhibitions at the Royal
Academy, London, were miniatures and flower pieces. Later she painted
portraits and figure subjects, as well as flowers. In 1872 "Lady Betty
Germain" was greatly admired for the grace of the figure and the
exquisite finish of the details. In 1873 she exhibited "Lady Betty's
Maid" and "Lady Betty Shopping." "Lady Teazle Behind the Screen" was
dated 1871, and "Mistress of Herself tho' China Fall" was painted and
exhibited in the last year of her life.
CHASE, ADELAIDE COLE. Member of Art Students' Association. Born in
Boston. Daughter of J. Foxcroft Cole. Studied at the School of the Museum
of Fine Arts, under Tarbell, and also under Jean Paul Laurens and Carolus
Duran in Paris; and with Vinton in Boston.
Mrs. Chase has painted portraits entirely, most of which are in or near
Boston; her artistic reputation among painters of her own specialty is
excellent, and her portraits are interesting aside from the persons
represented, when considered purely as works of art.
[Illustration: From a Copley Print.
A PORTRAIT
ADELAIDE COLE CHASE]
A portrait called a "Woman with a Muff," exhibited recently at the
exhibition of the Society of American Artists, in New York, was much
admired. At the 1904 exhibition of the Philadelphia Academy Mrs. Chase
exhibited a portrait of children, Constance and Gordon Worcester, of
which Arthur Hoeber writes: "She has painted them easily, with deftness
and feeling, and apparently caught their character and the delicacy of
infancy."
CHAUCHET, CHARLOTTE. Honorable mention at the Salon, 1901;
third-class medal, 1902. Member of the Societe des Artistes Francais and
of l'Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs. Born at Charleville,
Ardennes, in 1878. Pupil of Gabriel Thurner, Benjamin-Constant, Jean Paul
Laurens, and Victor Marec. Her principal works are "Maree"--Fish--1899,
purchased for the lottery of the International Exposition at Lille;
"Breton Interior," purchased by the Society of the Friends of the Arts,
at Nantes; "Mother Closmadenc Dressing Fish," in the Museum of Brest;
"Interior of a Kitchen at Mont," purchased by the Government; "Portrait
of my Grandmother," which obtained honorable mention; "At the Corner of
the Fire," "A Little Girl in the Open Air," medal of third class.
The works of Mlle. Chauchet have been much praised. The _Petit Moniteur_,
June, 1899, says: "Mlle. Chauchet, a very young girl, in her picture of a
'Breton Interior' shows a vigor and decision very rare in a woman." Of
the "Maree," the _Depeche de Brest_ says: "On a sombre background, in
artistic disorder, thrown pell-mell on the ground, are baskets and a
shining copper kettle, with a mass of fish of all sorts, of varied forms,
and changing colors. All well painted. Such is the picture by Mlle.
Chauchet."
In the _Courrier de l'Est_ we read: "Mlle. Chauchet, taking her
grandmother for her model, has painted one of the best portraits of the
Salon. The hands, deformed by disease and age, are especially effective;
the delicate tone of the hair in contrast with the lace of the cap makes
an attractive variation in white."
In the _Union Republicaine de la Marne_, H. Bernard writes: "'Le
retour des champs' is a picture of the plain of Berry at evening. We see
the back of a peasant, nude above the blue linen pantaloons, with the
feet in wooden sabots. He is holding his tired, heavy cow by the tether.
The setting sun lights up his powerful bronzed back, his prominent
shoulders, and the hindquarters of the cow. It is all unusually strong;
the drawing is firm and very bold in the foreshortening of the animal.
The effect of the whole is a little sad; the sobriety of the execution
emphasizes this effect, and, above all, there is in it no suggestion of
the feminine. I have already noticed this quality of almost brutal
sincerity, of picturesque realism, in the works of Mlle. Chauchet who
successfully follows her methods."
Chaussee, Mlle. Cecile de.
[_No reply to circular_.]
CHERON, ELIZABETH SOPHIE. Born in Paris in 1648. Her father was an
artist, and under his instruction Elizabeth attained such perfection in
miniature and enamel painting that her works were praised by the most
distinguished artists. In 1674 Charles le Brun proposed her name and she
was elected to the Academy.
Her exquisite taste in the arrangement of her subjects, the grace of her
draperies, and, above all, the refinement and spirituality of her
pictures, were the characteristics on which her fame was based.
Her life outside her art was interesting. Her father was a rigid
Calvinist, and endeavored to influence his daughter to adopt his
religious belief; but her mother, who was a fervent Roman Catholic,
persuaded Elizabeth to pass a year in a convent, during which time she
ardently embraced the faith of her mother. She was an affectionate
daughter to both her parents and devoted her earnings to her brother
Louis, who made his studies in Italy.
In her youth Elizabeth Cheron seemed insensible to the attractions of the
brilliant men in her social circle, and was indifferent to the offers of
marriage which she received; but when sixty years old, to the surprise of
her friends, she married Monsieur Le Hay, a gentleman of her own age. One
of her biographers, leaving nothing to the imagination, assures us that
"substantial esteem and respect were the foundations of their matrimonial
happiness, rather than any pretence of romantic sentiment."
Mlle. Cheron's narrative verse was much admired and her spiritual poetry
was thought to resemble that of J. B. Rousseau. In 1699 she was elected
to the Accademia dei Ricovrati of Padua, where she was known as Erato.
The honors bestowed on her did not lessen the modesty of her bearing. She
was simple in dress, courteous in her intercourse with her inferiors, and
to the needy a helpful friend.
She died when sixty-three and was buried in the church of St. Sulpice. I
translate the lines written by the Abbe Bosquillon and placed beneath her
portrait: "The unusual possession of two exquisite talents will render
Cheron an ornament to France for all time. Nothing save the grace of her
brush could equal the excellencies of her pen."
Pictures by this artist are seen in various collections in France, but
the larger number of her works were portraits which are in the families
of her subjects.
CHERRY, EMMA RICHARDSON. Gold medal from Western Art Association in
1891. Member of above association and of the Denver Art Club. Born at
Aurora, Illinois, 1859. Pupil of Julian and Delecluse Academies in Paris,
also of Merson, and of the Art Students' League in New York.
Mrs. Cherry is a portrait painter, and in 1903 was much occupied in this
art in Chicago and vicinity. Among her sitters were Mr. Orrington Lunt,
the donor of the Library of the Northwestern University, and Bishop
Foster, a former president of the same university; these are to be placed
in the library. A portrait by Mrs. Cherry of a former president of the
American Society of Civil Engineers, Mr. O. Chanute, is to be placed in
the club rooms of the society in New York. It has been done at the
request of the society.
An exhibition of ten portraits by this artist was held in Chicago in
1903, and was favorably noticed. Mrs. Cherry resides in Houston, Texas.
CLEMENT, ETHEL. This artist has received several awards from
California State fair exhibits, and her pastel portrait of her mother was
hung on the line at the Salon of 1898. Member of San Francisco Art
Association and of the Sketch Club of that city. Born in San Francisco in
1874. Her studies began in her native city with drawing from the antique
and from life under Fred Yates. At the Cowles Art School, Boston, and the
Art Students' League, New York, she spent three winters, and at the
Julian Academy, Paris, three other winters, drawing from life and
painting in oils under the teaching of Jules Lefebvre and Robert-Fleury,
supplementing these studies by that of landscape in oils under George
Laugee in Picardie.
Her portraits, figure subjects, and landscapes are numerous, and are
principally in private collections, a large proportion being in San
Francisco. Her recent work has been landscape painting in New England. In
1903 she exhibited a number of pictures in Boston which attracted
favorable attention.
COHEN, KATHERINE M. Honorary member of the American Art Association,
Paris, and of the New Century Club, Philadelphia. Born in Philadelphia,
1859. Pupil of School of Design, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and
of St. Gaudens at Art Students' League; also six years in Paris schools.
This artist executed a portrait of General Beaver for the Smith Memorial
in Fairmount Park. She has made many portraits in busts and bas-reliefs,
as well as imaginary subjects and decorative works. "The Israelite" is a
life-size statue and an excellent work.
COLLAERT, MARIE. Born in Brussels, 1842. Is called the Flemish Rosa
Bonheur and the Muse of Belgian landscape. Her pictures of country life
are most attractive. Her powerful handling of her brush is modified by a
tender, feminine sentiment.
I quote from the "History of Modern Painters": "In Marie Collaert's
pictures may be found quiet nooks beneath clear sky-green stretches of
grass where the cows are at pasture in idyllic peace. Here is to be
found the cheery freshness of country life."
COMAN, CHARLOTTE B. Bronze medal, California Mid-Winter Exposition,
1894. Member of New York Water-Color Club. Born in Waterville, N. Y.
Pupil of J. R. Brevoort in America, of Harry Thompson and Emile Vernier
in Paris. This artist has painted landscapes, and sent to the
Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 "A French Village"; to the Paris
Exposition, 1878, "Near Fontainebleau." In 1877 and 1878 she exhibited in
Boston, "On the Borders of the Marne" and "Peasant House in Normandy."
[_No reply to circular_.]
COMERRE-PATON, MME. JACQUELINE. Honorable mention, 1881; medal at
Versailles; officer of the Academy. Born at Paris, 1859. Pupil of
Cabanel. Her principal works are: "Peau d'Ane, Hollandaise," in the
Museum of Lille; "Song of the Wood," Museum of Morlaix; "Mignon,"
portrait of Mlle. Ugalde; the "Haymaker," etc.
COOKESLEY, MARGARET MURRAY. Decorated by the Sultan of Turkey with
the Order of the Chefakat, and with the Medaille des Beaux Arts, also a
Turkish honor. Medal for the "Lion Tamers in the Time of Nero." Member of
the Empress Club. Born in Dorsetshire. Studied in Brussels under Leroy
and Gallais, and spent a year at South Kensington in the study of
anatomy. Mrs. Cookesley has lived in Newfoundland and in San Francisco. A
visit to Constantinople brought her a commission to paint a portrait of
the son of the Sultan. No sittings were accorded her, the Sultan
thinking a photograph sufficient for the artist to work from. Fortunately
Mrs. Cookesley was able to make a sketch of her subject while following
the royal carriage in which he was riding. The portrait proved so
satisfactory to the Sultan that he not only decorated the artist, but
invited her to make portraits of some of his wives, for which Mrs.
Cookesley had not time. Her pictures of Oriental subjects have been
successful. Among these are: "An Arab Cafe in the Slums of Cairo," much
noticed in the Academy Exhibition of 1895; "Noon at Ramazan," "The
Snake-Charmer," "Umbrellas to Mend--Damascus," and a group of the
"Soudanese Friends of Gordon." Her "Priestess of Isis" is owned in Cairo.
Among her pictures of Western subjects are "The Puritan's Daughter,"
"Deliver Us from Evil," "The Gambler's Wife." "Widowed" and "Miss Calhoun
as Salome" were purchased by Maclean, of the Haymarket Theatre; "Death of
the First-Born" is owned in Russia; and "Portrait of Ellen Terry as
Imogen" is in a private collection.
"Lion Tamers in the Time of Nero" is one of her important pictures of
animals, of which she has made many sketches.
COOPER, EMMA LAMPERT. Awarded medal at World's Columbian Exposition,
1893; bronze medal, Atlanta Exposition, 1895. Member of Water-Color Club
and Woman's Art Club, New York; Water-Color Club and Plastic Club,
Philadelphia; Woman's Art Association, Canada; Women's International Art
Club, London.
Born in Nunda, N. Y. Studied under Agnes D. Abbatt at Cooper Union and at
the Art Students' League, New York; in Paris under Harry Thompson and at
Delecluse and Colarossi Academies.
[Illustration: A CANADIAN INTERIOR
EMMA LAMPERT COOPER]
Mrs. Cooper's work is principally in water-colors. After several years
abroad, in the spring of 1903 she exhibited twenty-two pictures,
principally of Dutch interiors, with some sketches in English towns,
which last, being more unusual, were thought her best work. Her picture,
"Mother Claudius," is in the collection of Walter J. Peck, New York;
"High Noon at Cape Ann" is owned by W. B. Lockwood, New York; and a
"Holland Interior" by Dr. Gessler, Philadelphia. Of her recent exhibition
a critic writes: "The pictures are notable for their careful attention to
detail of drawing. Architectural features of the rich old Gothic churches
are faithfully indicated instead of blurred, and the treatment is almost
devotional in tone, so sympathetic is the quality of the work. There is a
total absence of the garish coloring which has become so common, the
religious subjects being without exception in a minor key, usually soft
grays and blues. It is indeed in composition and careful drawing that
this artist excels rather than in coloring, although this afterthought is
suggested by the canvasses treating of secular subjects."--_Brooklyn
Standard Union_.
CORAZZI, GIULITTA. Born at Fivizzano, 1866. Went to Florence when
still a child and early began to study art. She took a diploma at the
Academy in 1886, having been a pupil of Cassioli. She is a portrait
painter, and among her best works are the portraits of the Counts
Francesco and Ottorino Tenderini, Giuseppe Erede, and Raffaello
Morvanti. Her pictures of flowers are full of freshness and spirit and
delightful in color. Since 1885 she has spent much time in teaching in
the public schools and other institutions and in private families.
CORRELLI, CLEMENTINA. Member of the Society for the Promotion of the
Fine Arts, in Naples. Born in Lesso, 1840. This artist is both a painter
and a sculptor. Pupil of Biagio Molinari, she supplemented his
instructions by constant visits to galleries and museums, where she could
study masterpieces of art. A statue called "The Undeceived" and a group,
"The Task," did much to establish her reputation. They were exhibited in
Naples, Milan, and Verona, and aroused widespread interest.
Her pictures are numerous. Among them are "St. Louis," "Sappho,"
"Petrarch and Laura," "Romeo and Juliet," "Hagar and Ishmael in the
Desert," "A Devotee of the Virgin," exhibited at Turin in 1884; a series
illustrating the "Seasons," and four others representing the arts.
COSWAY, MARIA. The artist known by this name was born Maria
Hadfield, the daughter of an Englishman who acquired a fortune as a
hotel-keeper in Leghorn, which was Maria's birthplace. She was educated
in a convent, and early manifesting unusual artistic ability, was sent to
Rome to study painting. Her friends there, among whom were Battoni,
Raphael Mengs, and Fuseli, found much to admire and praise in her art.
After her father's death Maria ardently desired to become a nun, but her
mother persuaded her to go to England. Here she came under the influence
of Angelica Kauffman, and devoted herself assiduously to painting.
She married Richard Cosway, an eminent painter of miniatures in
water-colors. Cosway was a man of fortune with a good position in the
fashionable circles of London. For a time after their marriage Maria
lived in seclusion, her husband wishing her to acquire the dignity and
grace requisite for success in the society which he frequented. Meantime
she continued to paint in miniature, and her pictures attracted much
attention in the Academy exhibitions.
When at length Cosway introduced her to the London world, she was greatly
admired; her receptions were crowded, and the most eminent people sat to
her for their portraits. Her picture of the Duchess of Devonshire in the
character of Spenser's Cynthia was very much praised. Cosway did not
permit her to be paid for her work, and as a consequence many costly
gifts were made her in return for her miniatures, which were regarded as
veritable treasures by their possessors.
Maria Cosway had a delicious voice in singing, which, in addition to her
other talent, her beauty, and grace, made her unusually popular in
society, and her house was a centre for all who had any pretensions to a
place in the best circles. Poets, authors, orators, lords, ladies,
diplomats, as well as the Prince of Wales, were to be seen in her
drawing-rooms. A larger house was soon required for the Cosways, and the
description of it in "Nollekens and His Times" is interesting:
"Many of the rooms were more like scenes of enchantment pencilled by a
poet's fancy, than anything perhaps before displayed in a domestic
habitation. Escritoires of ebony, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and rich
caskets for antique gems, exquisitely enamelled and adorned with onyx,
opals, rubies, and emeralds; cabinets of ivory, curiously wrought; mosaic
tables, set with jasper, blood-stone, and lapis-lazuli, their feet carved
into the claws of lions and eagles; screens of old raised Oriental Japan;
massive musical clocks, richly chased with ormulu and tortoise-shell;
ottomans superbly damasked; Persian and other carpets, with corresponding
hearth-rugs bordered with ancient family crests and armorial ensigns in
the centre, and rich hangings of English tapestry. The carved
chimney-pieces were adorned with the choicest bronzes and models in wax
and terra-cotta. The tables were covered with Sevres, blue Mandarin,
Nankin, and Dresden china, and the cabinets were surmounted with crystal
cups, adorned with the York and Lancaster roses, which might have graced
the splendid banquets of the proud Wolsey."
In the midst of all this fatiguing luxury, Maria Cosway lost her health
and passed several years travelling in Europe. Returning to London, she
was again prostrated by the death of her only daughter. She then went to
Lodi, near Milan, where she founded a college for the education of girls.
She spent much time in Lodi, and after the death of her husband
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