of change of scene, and went to Moscow. Returning to Petersburg, she determined–in spite of the remonstrances of her friends, and the inducements offered her to remain–to go to France. She several times interrupted her journey in order to paint portraits of persons who had heard of her fame, and desired to have her pictures.
She reached Paris in 1801 and writes thus of her return: “I shall not attempt to express my emotions when I was again upon the soil of France, from which I had been absent twelve years. Fright, grief, joy possessed me, each in turn, for all these entered into the thousand varying sentiments which swept over my soul. I wept for the friends whom I had lost upon the scaffold, but I was about to see again those who remained. This France to which I returned had been the scene of atrocious crimes; but this France was my Native Land!”
But the new regime was odious to the artist, and she found herself unable to be at home, even in Paris. After a year she went to London, and remained in England three years. She detested the climate and was not in love with the people, but she found a compensation in the society of many French families who had fled from France as she had done.
In 1804 Mme. Nigris was in Paris and her mother returned to see her. The young woman was very beautiful and attractive, very fond of society, entirely indifferent to her husband, and not always wise in the choice of her companions. Mme. Le Brun, always hard at work and always having great anxieties, at length found herself so broken in health, and so nervously fatigued that she longed to be alone with Nature, and in 1808 she went to Switzerland. Her letters written to the Countess Potocka at this time are added to her “Souvenirs,” and reveal the very best of her nature. Feeling the need of continued repose, she bought a house at Louveciennes, where she spent much time. In 1818 M. Le Brun died, and six years later the deaths of her daughter and her brother left her with no near relative in the world.
For a time she sought distractions in new scenes and visited the Touraine and other parts of France, but though she still lived a score of years, she spent them in Paris and Louveciennes. She had with her two nieces, who cared for her more tenderly than any one had done before. One of these ladies was a portrait painter and profited much by the advice of Mme. Le Brun, who wrote of this period and these friends: “They made me feel again the sentiments of a mother, and their tender devotion diffused a great charm over my life. It is near these two dear ones and some friends who remain to me that I hope to terminate peacefully a life which has been wandering but calm, laborious but honorable.”
During the last years of her life the most distinguished society of Paris was wont to assemble about her–artists, litterateurs, savants, and men of the fashionable world. Here all essential differences of opinion were laid aside and all met on common ground. Her “calm” seemed to have influenced all her life; only good feeling and equality found a place near her, and few women have the blessed fortune to be so sincerely mourned by a host of friends as was Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun, dying at the age of eighty-seven.
Mme. Le Brun’s works numbered six hundred and sixty portraits–fifteen genre or figure pictures and about two hundred landscapes painted from sketches made on her journeys. Her portraits included those of the sovereigns and royal families of all Europe, as well as the most famous authors, artists, singers, and the learned men in Church and State.
As an artist M. Charles Blanc thus esteems her: “In short, Mme. Le Brun belonged entirely to the eighteenth century–I wish to say to that period of our time which rested itself suddenly at David. While she followed the counsels of Vernet, her pencil had a certain suppleness, and her brush a force; but she too often attempted to imitate Greuze in her later works and she weakened the resemblance to her subjects by abusing the _regard noye_ (cloudy or indistinct effect). She was too early in vogue to make all the necessary studies, and she too often contented herself with an ingenuity a little too manifest. Without judging her as complacently as the Academy formerly judged her, we owe her an honorable place, because in spite of revolutions and reforms she continued to her last day the light, spiritual, and French Art of Watteau, Nattier, and Fragonard.”
VIGRI, CATERINA DE. Lippo Dalmasii was much admired by Malvasia, who not only extols his pictures, but his spirit as well, and represents him as following his art as a religion, beginning and ending his daily work with prayer. Lippo is believed to have been the master of Caterina de Vigri, and the story of her life is in harmony with the influence of such a teacher.
She is the only woman artist who has been canonized; and in the Convent of the Corpus Domini, in Bologna, which she founded, she is known as “La Santa,” and as a special patron of the Fine Arts.
Caterina was of a noble family of Ferrara, where she was born in 1413. She died when fifty years old; and so great was the reverence for her memory that her remains were preserved, and may still be seen in a chapel of her convent. There are few places in that ever wonderful Italy of such peculiar interest as this chapel, where sits, clothed in a silken robe, with a crown of gold on the head, the incorrupt body of a woman who died four hundred and forty years ago. The body is quite black, while the nails are still pink. She holds a book and a sceptre. Around her, in the well-lighted chapel, are several memorials of her life: the viola on which she played, and a manuscript in her exquisite chirography, also a service book illuminated by Caterina, and, still more important, one of her pictures, a “Madonna and Child,” inserted in the wall on the left of the chapel, which is admirable for the beauty of expression in the face of the Holy Mother.
We cannot trace Caterina’s artist life step by step, but she doubtless worked with the same spirit of consecration and prayer as did that Beato whom we call Angelico, in his Florentine convent, a century earlier.
Caterina executed many miniatures, and her easel pictures were not large. These were owned by private families. She is known to us by two pictures of “St. Ursula folding her Robe about her Companions.” One is in the Bologna Gallery, the other in the Academy in Venice. The first is on a wooden panel, and was painted when the artist was thirty-nine years old. The Saint is represented as unnaturally tall, the figures of her virgins being very small. The mantle and robe of St. Ursula are of rich brocade ornamented with floral designs, while on each side of her is a white flag, on which is a red cross. The face of the saint is so attractive that one forgets the elongation of her figure. There is a delicacy in the execution, combined with a freedom and firmness of handling fully equal to the standard of her school and time. Many honors were paid to the memory of Caterina de Vigri. She was chosen as the protectress of Academies and Art Institutions, and in the eighteenth century a medal was coined, on which she is represented as painting on a panel held by an angel. How few human beings are thus honored three centuries after death!
VINCENT, MME. See Labille.
VISSCHER, ANNA AND MARIA. These daughters of the celebrated Dutch engraver were known as “the Dutch Muses.” They made their best reputation by their etchings on glass, but they were also well known for their writing of both poetry and prose. They were associated with the scholars of their time and were much admired.
VOLKMAR, ANTONIE ELIZABETH CAECILIA. Born in Berlin, 1827. She
studied with Schroder in her native city, with L. Cogniet in Paris, and later in Italy. She returned to Berlin, where she painted portraits and genre subjects. Her picture of the “Grandmother telling Stories” is in the Museum of Stettin. Among her works are “An Artist’s Travels” a “German Emigrant,” and “School Friends.”
VONNOH, BESSIE POTTER. Bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1900; Second Prize at Tennessee Centennial. Honorable mention at Buffalo Exposition, 1901. Member of the National Sculpture Society and National Arts Club. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, 1872.
This sculptor is a pupil of the Art Institute, Chicago. Among her best works are “A Young Mother”; “Twin Sisters”; “His First Journey”; “Girl Reading,” etc.
In the _Century Magazine_, September, 1897, Arthur Hoeber wrote: “There were shown at the Society of American Artists in New York, in the Spring of 1896, some statuettes of graceful young womanhood, essentially modern in conception, singularly naive in treatment, refined, and withal intensely personal…. While the disclosure is by no means novel, Miss Potter makes us aware that in the daily prosaic life about us there are possibilities conventional yet attractive, simple, but containing much of suggestion, waiting only the sympathetic touch to be responsive if the proper chord is struck.”
This author also notices the affiliation of this young woman with the efforts of the Tanagra workers, and says: “But if the inspiration of the young woman is evident, her work can in no way be called imitative.”
VOS, MARIA. Born in Amsterdam, 1824. Pupil of P. Kiers. Her pictures were principally of still-life, two of which are seen in the Amsterdam Museum.
WAGNER, MARIA DOROTHEA; family name Dietrich. 1728-1792. The gallery of Wiesbaden has two of her landscapes, as has also the Museum at Gotha. “Der Muehlengrund,” representing a valley with a brook and a mill, is in the Dresden Gallery.
WARD, MISS E. This sculptor has a commission to make a statue of G. R. Clark for the St. Louis Exposition.
[_No reply to circular_.]
WARD, HENRIETTA MARY ADA. Gold and silver medals at the Crystal Palace; bronze medal at the Vienna Exposition, 1873. Born in Newman Street, London, when that street and the neighborhood was the quarter in which the then celebrated artists resided. Mrs. Ward was a pupil of the Bloomsbury Art School and of Sak’s Academy. Her grandfather, James Ward, was a royal Academician, and one of the best animal painters of England. While Sir Thomas Lawrence lived, Mrs. Ward’s father, who was a miniaturist, was much occupied in copying the works of Sir Thomas on ivory, as the celebrated portrait painter would permit no other artist to repeat them. After the death of Sir Thomas, Mr. Ward became an engraver. Her mother was also a miniature painter. Her great-uncles were William Ward, R.A., and George Morland; John Jackson, R.A., was her uncle; and her husband, Edward M. Ward, to whom she was married at sixteen, was also a Royal Academican.
From 1849, Mrs. Ward exhibited at the Royal Academy during thirty years, without a break, but her husband’s death caused her to omit some exhibitions, and since that time her exhibits have been less regular. For some years Mrs. Ward has had successful classes for women at Chester Studios, which have somewhat interfered with her painting.
Mrs. Ward’s subjects have been historical and genre, some of which are extensively known by prints after them. Among these are “Joan of Arc,” “Palissy the Potter,” and “Mrs. Fry and Mary Saunderson visiting Prisoners at Newgate,” the last dedicated by permission to Queen Victoria. This picture was purchased by an American.
Of her picture of “Mary of Scotland, giving her infant to the Care of Lord Mar,” Palgrave wrote: “This work is finely painted, and tells its tale with clearness.” Among her numerous works are: “The Poet Hogg’s First Love”; “Chatterton,” the poet, in the Muniment Room, Bristol; “Lady Jane Grey refusing the Crown of England”; “Antwerp Market”; “Queen Mary of Scots’ farewell to James I.”; “Washing Day at the Liverpool Docks”; “The Princes in the Tower”; “George III. and Mrs. Delayney, with his family at Windsor”; “The Young Pretender,” and many others.
When sixteen Mrs. Ward exhibited two heads in crayon. In 1903, at the Academy, she exhibited “The Dining-room, Kent House, Knightsbridge.” Mrs. Ward painted for Queen Victoria two portraits of the Princess Beatrice, and a life-size copy of a portrait of the Duke of Albany. She also painted a portrait of Princess Alice of Albany, who is about to marry Prince Alexander of Teck.
Edward VII. has commissioned this artist to make two copies of the state portrait, painted by S. Luke Fildes, R.A.
Mrs. Ward had two more votes for her admission to the Royal Academy than any other woman of her time has had.
WASSER, ANNA. Born at Zuerich, 1676, is notable among the painters of her country. She was the daughter of an artist, and early developed a love of drawing and an unusual aptitude in the study of languages. In painting she was a pupil of Joseph Werner. After a time she devoted herself to miniature painting; her reputation extended to all the German courts, as well as to Holland and England, and her commissions were so numerous that her father began to regard her as a mine of riches. He allowed her neither rest nor recreation, and was even unwilling that she should devote sufficient time to her pictures to finish them properly. Under this pressure of haste and constant labor her health gave way and she became melancholy.
She was separated from her father, and in more agreeable surroundings her health was restored and she resumed her painting. Her father then insisted that she should return to him. On her journey home she had a fall, from the effects of which she died at the age of thirty-four.
Fuseli valued a picture by Anna Wasser, which he owned, and praised her correctness of design and her feeling for color.
WATERS, SADIE P. 1869-1900. Honorable mention Paris Exposition, 1900. Born in St. Louis, Missouri. This unusually gifted artist made her studies entirely in Paris, under the direction of M. Luc-Olivier Merson.
Her earlier works were portraits in miniature, in which she was very successful. That of Jane Hading was much admired. She also excelled in illustrations, but in her later work she found her true province, that of religious subjects. A large picture on ivory, called “La Vierge au Lys,” was exhibited in Paris, London, Brussels, and Ghent, and attracted much attention.
[Illustration: LA VIERGE AU ROSIER
SADIE WATERS]
Her picture of the “Vierge aux Rosiers,” reproduced here, was in the Salon, 1899, and in the exhibition of Religious Art in Brussels in 1900, after which it was exhibited in New York; and wherever seen it was especially admired.
Miss Waters’ pictures were exhibited in the Salon Francais, Champs Elysees, from 1891 until her death. From the earliest days of childhood she was remarkable for her skill in drawing and in working out, from her own impressions, pictures of events passing about her. If at the theatre she saw a play that appealed to her, she made a picture symbolic of the play, and constantly startled her friends by her original ideas and the pronounced artistic temperament, which was very early the one controlling power in her life. Mr. Carl Gutherz thus speaks of her good fortune in studying with M. Merson.
“As the Master and Student became more and more acquainted, and the great artist found in the student those kindred qualities which subsequently made her work so refined and beautiful,… he took the utmost care in developing her drawing–the fidelity of line and of expression, and the ever-pervading purity in her work. The sympathy with all good was reflected in the student, as it was ever present with the master, and only those who are acquainted with M. Merson can appreciate how fortunate it was for Art that the young artist was under a master of his character and temperament.”
One of her pictures, called “La Chrysantheme,” represents a nude figure of a young girl, seated on the ground, leaning against a large basket of chrysanthemums, from which she is plucking blossoms. The figure is beautiful, and shows the deep study the artist had made, although still so young.
The following estimate of her work is made by one competent to speak of such matters: “In this epoch of feverish uncertainty, of heated discussions and rivalries in art matters, the quiet, calm figure of Sadie Waters has a peculiar interest and charm generated by her tranquil and persistent pursuit of an ideal–an ideal she attained in her later works, an ideal of the highest mental order, mystical and human, and so far removed from the tendencies of our time that one might truthfully say, it stands alone. Her talents were manifold. She was endowed with the best of artistic qualities. She cultivated them diligently, and slowly acquired the handicraft and skill which enabled her to express herself without restriction. In her miniatures she learned to be careful, precise, and delicate; in her work from nature she was human; and in her studies of illuminating she gained a perfect understanding of ornamental painting and forms; and the subtle ambiance of the beautiful old churches and convents where she worked and pored over the ancient missals, and softly talked with the princely robed Monsignori, no doubt did much to develop her love for the Beautiful Story, the delicate myth of Christianity–and all this, all these rare qualities and honest efforts we find in her last picture, The Virgin.
“The beauty and preciseness of this composition, the divine feeling not without a touch of motherly sentiment, its delicacy so rare and so pure, the distinction of its coloring, are all past expression, and give it a place unique in the nineteenth century.”–_Paul W. Bartlett_, Paris, 1903.
WEGMANN, BERTHA. Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1880; third-class medal, 1882; Thorwaldsen medal at Copenhagen; small gold medal, Berlin, 1894. Born at Soglio, Switzerland, 1847. Studied in Copenhagen, Munich, Paris, and Florence.
She paints portraits and genre subjects. Her pictures, seen at Berlin in 1893, were much admired. They included portraits, figure studies, and Danish interiors. At Munich, in 1894, her portraits attracted attention, and were commended by those who wrote of the exhibition. Among her works are many portraits: “Mother and Child in the Garden,” and “A Widow and Child,” are two of her genre subjects.
WEIS, ROSARIO. Silver medal from the Academy of San Fernando, 1842, for a picture called “Silence.” Member of the Academy. Pupil of Goya, who early recognized her talent. In 1823, when Goya removed to Burdeos, she studied under the architect Tiburcio Perez. After a time she joined Goya, and remained his pupil until his death in 1828. She then entered the studio Lacour, where she did admirable work. In 1833, for the support of her mother and herself, she made copies of pictures in the Prado on private commissions.
In 1842 she was appointed teacher of drawing to the royal family, in which position she did not long continue, her death occurring in 1843.
Among her pictures are “Attention!” an allegorical figure; “An Angel”; “A Venus”; and “A Diana.” Among her portraits are those of Goya, Velasquez, and Figaro.
WIEGMANN, MARIE ELISABETH; family name Hancke. Small gold medal, Berlin. Born 1826 at Solberberg, Silesia; died, 1893, at Duesseldorf. In 1841 she began to study with Stilke in Duesseldorf; later with K. Sohn. She travelled extensively in Germany, England, Holland, and Italy, and settled with her husband, Rudolph Wiegmann, in Duesseldorf. In the Museum at Hanover is “The Colonist’s Children Crowning a Negro Woman,” and in the National Gallery at Berlin a portrait of Schnaase. Some children’s portraits, and one of the Countess Hatzfeld, should also be mentioned among her works.
In portraiture her work was distinguished by talent, spirit, and true artistic composition; in genre–especially the so-called ideal genre–she produced some exquisite examples.
WENTWORTH, MARQUISE CECILIA DE. Gold medal, Tours National
Exposition, Lyons and Turin; Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1891; Bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1900; Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, 1901. Born in New York. Pupil of the Convent of the Sacred Heart and of Cabanel, in Paris. This artist has painted portraits of Leo XIII., who presented her with a gold medal; of Cardinal Ferrata; of Challemel-Lacour, President of the Senate at the time when the portrait was made, and of many others. Her picture of “Faith” is in the Luxembourg Gallery. At the Salon des Artistes Francais, 1903, Madame de Wentworth exhibited the “Portrait of Mlle. X.,” and “Solitude.”
[_No reply to circular_.]
WHEELER, JANET. First Toppan Prize and Mary Smith Prize at Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Gold medal, Philadelphia Art Club. Fellow of Academy of Fine Arts, and member of Plastic Club, Philadelphia. Born in Detroit, Michigan. Pupil of Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and of the Julian Academy in Paris.
This artist paints portraits almost entirely, which are in private hands. I know of but one figure picture by her, which is called “Beg for It.” She was a miniaturist several years before taking up larger portraits.
WHITE, FLORENCE. Silver medal at Woman’s Exhibition, Earl’s Court; silver medal for a pastel exhibited in Calcutta. Born at Brighton, England. Pupil of Royal Academy Schools in London, and of Bouguereau and Perrier in Paris.
In 1899 this artist exhibited a portrait in the New Gallery; in 1901 a portrait of Bertram Blunt, Esq., at the Royal Academy; and in 1902 a portrait of “Peggy,” a little girl with a poodle.
She has sent miniatures to the Academy exhibitions several years; that of Miss Lyall Wilson was exhibited in 1903.
WHITMAN, SARAH DE ST. PRIX. Bronze medal at Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893; gold and bronze medals at Atlanta Exposition; diploma at Pan-American, Buffalo, 1901. Member of the Society of American Artists, New York; Copley Society, Boston; Water-Color Club, Boston. Born in Baltimore, Maryland. Pupil of William M. Hunt and Thomas Couture.
Mrs. Whitman has painted landscapes and portraits, and of recent years has been much occupied with work in glass. Windows by her are in Memorial Hall, Cambridge; in the Episcopal Church in Andover, Massachusetts, etc. An altar-piece by her is in All Saints’ Church, Worcester.
Her portrait of Senator Bayard is in the State Department, Washington.
WHITNEY, ANNE. Born in Watertown, Massachusetts. Made her studies in Belmont and Boston, and later in Paris and Rome.
Miss Whitney’s sculptures are in many public places. A heroic size statue of Samuel Adams is in Boston and Washington, in bronze and marble; Harriet Martineau is at Wellesley College, in marble; the “Lotos-Eaters” is in Newton and Cambridge, in marble; “Lady Godiva,” a life-size statue in marble, is in a private collection in Milton; a statue of Leif Eriksen, in bronze, is in Boston and Milwaukee; a bust of Professor Pickering, in marble, is in the Observatory, Cambridge; a statue, “Roma,” is in Albany, Wellesley, St. Louis, and Newton, in both marble and bronze; Charles Sumner, in bronze of heroic size, is in Cambridge; a bust of President Walker, bronze, is also in Cambridge; President Stearns, a bust in marble, is in Amherst; a bust of Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer is in Cambridge; a bust of Professor Palmer is on a bronze medal; the Calla Fountain, in bronze, is in Franklin Park; and many other busts, medals, etc., in marble, bronze, and plaster, are in private collections.
WILSON, MELVA BEATRICE. Prize of one hundred dollars a year for three successive years at Cincinnati Art Museum. Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1897. Born in Cincinnati, 1875. Pupil of Cincinnati Art Museum, under Louis T. Rebisso and Thomas Noble; in Paris, of Rodin and Vincent Norrottny.
By special invitation this sculptor has been an exhibitor at the National Sculpture Society, New York. Her principal works are: “The Minute Man,” in Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C.; “The Volunteer,” which was given by the State of New York as a military prize to a Vermont Regiment; an equestrian statue of John F. Doyle, Jr.; “Bull and Bear” and the “Polo Player” in bronze, owned by Tiffany & Co.; “Retribution” in a private collection in New York.
Miss Wilson has been accorded the largest commission given any woman sculptor for the decoration of the buildings of the St. Louis Exposition. She is to design eight spandrils for Machinery Hall, each one being twenty-eight by fifteen feet in size, with figures larger than life. The design represents the wheelwright and boiler-making trades. Reclining nude figures, of colossal size, bend toward the keystone of the arch, each holding a tool of a machinist. Interlaced cog-wheels form the background.
WIRTH, ANNA MARIE. Member of the Munich Art Association. Born in St. Petersburg, 1846. Studied in Vienna under Straschiripka–commonly known as Johann Canon–and in Paris, although her year’s work in the latter city seems to have left no trace upon her manner of painting. The genre pictures, in which she excels, clearly show the influence of the old Dutch school. A writer in “Moderne Kunst” says, in general, that she shows us real human beings under the “precieuses ridicules,” the languishing gallants and the pedant, and often succeeds in individualizing all these with the sharpness of a Chodowiecki, though at times she is merely good-natured, and therefore weak.
Sometimes, like Terborch, by her anecdotical treatment, she can set a whole romantic story before you; again, in the manner of Gerard Dow, she gives you a penetrating glimpse into old burgher life–work that is quite out of touch with the dilettantism that largely pervades modern art.
The admirers of this unusual artist seek out her genre pictures in the exhibitions of to-day, much as one turns to an idyl of Heinrich Voss, after a dose of the “storm and stress” poets. Most of her works are in private galleries.
One of her best pictures will be seen at the St. Louis Exposition.
WISINGER-FLORIAN, OLGA. Bavarian Ludwig medal, 1891; medal at Chicago, 1893. Born in Vienna, 1844. Pupil of Schaeffer and Schwindler. She has an excellent reputation as a painter of flowers. In the New Gallery, Munich, is one of her pictures of this sort; and at Munich, 1893, her flower pieces were especially praised in the reports of the exhibition.
She also paints landscapes, in which she gains power each year; her color grows finer and her design or modelling stronger. At Vienna, 1890, it was said that her picture of the “Bauernhofe” was, by its excellent color, a disadvantage to the pictures near it, and the shore motive in “Abbazia” was full of artistic charm. At Vienna, 1893, she exhibited a cycle, “The Months,” which bore witness to her admirable mastery of her art.
Among her works are some excellent Venetian subjects: “On the Rialto”; “Morning on the Shore”; and “In Venice.”
WOLFF, BETTY. Honorable mention, Berlin, 1890. Member of the Association of Women Artists and Friends of Art; also of the German Art Association. Born in Berlin, where she was a pupil of Karl Stauffer-Bern; she also studied in Munich under Karl Marr.
Besides numerous portraits of children, in pastel, this artist has painted portraits in oils of many well-known persons, among whom are Prof. H. Steinthal, Prof. Albrecht Weber, and General von Zycklinski.
WOLTERS, HENRIETTA, family name Van Pee. Born in Amsterdam. 1692-1741. Pupil of her father, and later made a special study of miniature under Christoffel le Blond. Her early work consisted largely in copies from Van de Velde and Van Dyck. Her miniatures were so highly esteemed that Peter the Great offered her a salary of six thousand florins as his court painter; and Frederick William of Prussia invited her to his court, but nothing could tempt her away from her home in Amsterdam. She received four hundred florins for a single miniature, a most unusual price in her time.
WOOD, CAROLINE S. Daughter of Honorable Horatio D. Wood, of St. Louis. This sculptor has made unusual advances in her art, to which she has seriously devoted herself less than four years. She has studied in the Art School of Washington University, the Art Institute, Chicago, and is now a student in the Art League, New York.
She has been commissioned by the State of Missouri to make a statue to represent “The Spirit of the State of Missouri,” for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
[_No reply to circular_.]
WOODBURY, MARCIA OAKES. Prize at Boston Art Club; medals at Mechanics’ Association Exhibition, Atlanta and Nashville Expositions. Member of the New York and Boston Water-Color Clubs. Born at South Berwick, Maine. Pupil of Tommasso Juglaris, in Boston, and of Lasar, in Paris.
Mrs. Woodbury paints in oils and water-colors; the latter are genre scenes, and among them are several Dutch subjects. She has painted children’s portraits in oils. Her pictures are in private hands in Boston, New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati. “The Smoker,” and “Mother and Daughter,” a triptych, are two of her principal pictures.
WOODWARD, DEWING. Grand prize of the Academy Julian, 1894. Member of Water-Color Club, Baltimore; Charcoal Club, Baltimore; L’Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs de France. Born at Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Pupil of Pennsylvania Academy a few months; in Paris, of Bouguereau, Robert-Fleury, and Jules Lefebvre.
Her “Holland Family at Prayer,” exhibited at the Paris Salon, 1893, and “Jessica,” belong to the Public Library in Williamsport; “Clam-Diggers Coming Home–Cape Cod” was in the Venice Exhibition, 1903; one of her pictures shows the “Julian Academy, Criticism Day.”
She has painted many portraits, and her work has often been thought to be that of a man, which idea is no doubt partly due to her choosing subjects from the lives of working men. She is of the modern school of colorists.
WRIGHT, ETHEL. This artist contributed annually to the exhibitions of the London Academy from 1893 to 1900, as follows: In 1893 she exhibited “Milly” and “Echo”; in 1894, “The Prodigal”; in 1895, a water-color, “Lilies”; in 1896, “Rejected”; in 1897, a portrait of Mrs. Laurence Phillips; in 1898, “The Song of Ages,” reproduced in this book; in 1899, a portrait of Mrs. Arthur Strauss; and in 1900, one of Miss Vaughan.
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WRIGHT, MRS. PATIENCE. Born at Bordentown, New Jersey, 1725, of a Quaker family. When left a widow, with three children to care for, she went to London, where she found a larger field for her art than she had in the United States, where she had already made a good reputation as a modeller in wax. By reason of this change of residence she has often been called an English sculptress.
Although the imaginative and pictorial is not cultivated or even approved by Quakers, Patience Lovell, while still a child, and before she had seen works of art, was content only when supplied with dough, wax, or clay, from which she made figures of men and women. Very early these figures became portraits of the people she knew best, and in the circle of her family and friends she was considered a genius.
Very soon after Mrs. Wright reached London she was fully employed. She worked in wax, and her full-length portrait of Lord Chatham was placed in Westminster Abbey, protected by a glass case. This attracted much attention, and the London journals praised the artist. She made portraits of the King and Queen, who, attracted by her brilliant conversation, admitted her to an intimacy at Buckingham House, which could not then have been accorded to an untitled English woman.
[Illustration: From a Copley Print.
THE SONG OF AGES
ETHEL WRIGHT]
Mrs. Wright made many portraits of distinguished people; but few, if any, of these can now be seen, although it is said that some of them have been carefully preserved by the families who possess them.
To Americans Mrs. Wright is interesting by reason of her patriotism, which amounted to a passion. She is credited with having been an important source of information to the American leaders in the time of the Revolution. In this she was frank and courageous, making no secret of her views. She even ventured to reprove George III. for his attitude toward the Colonists, and by this boldness lost the royal favor.
She corresponded with Franklin, in Paris, and new appointments, or other important movements in the British army, were speedily known to him.
Washington, when he knew that Mrs. Wright wished to make a bust of him, replied in most flattering terms that he should think himself happy to have his portrait made by her. Mrs. Wright very much desired to make likenesses of those who signed the Treaty of Peace, and of those who had taken a prominent part in making it. She wrote: “To shame the English king, I would go to any trouble and expense, and add my mite to the honor due to Adams, Jefferson, and others.”
Though so essentially American as a woman, the best of her professional life was passed in England, where she was liberally patronized and fully appreciated. Dunlap calls her an extraordinary woman, and several writers have mentioned her power of judging the character of her visitors, in which she rarely made a mistake, and chose her friends with unusual intelligence.
Her eldest daughter married in America, and was well known as a modeller in wax in New York. Her younger daughter married the artist Hoppner, a rival in portraiture of Stuart and Lawrence, while her son Joseph was a portrait painter. His likeness of Washington was much admired.
WULFRAAT, MARGARETTA. Born at Arnheim. 1678-1741. Was a pupil of Caspar Netscher of Heidelberg, whose little pictures are of fabulous value. Although he was so excellent a painter he was proud of Margaretta, whose pictures were much admired in her day. Her “Musical Conversation” is in the Museum of Schwerin. Her “Cleopatra” and “Semiramis” are in the Gallery at Amsterdam.
YANDELL, ENID. Special Designer’s Medal, Chicago, 1893; silver medal, Tennessee Exposition; Honorable Mention, Buffalo, 1901. Member of National Sculpture Society; Municipal Art Society; National Arts Club, all of New York. Born in Louisville, Kentucky. Graduate of Cincinnati Art Academy. Pupil of Philip Martiny in New York, and in Paris of Frederick McMonnies and Auguste Rodin.
The principal works of this artist are the Mayor Lewis monument at New Haven, Connecticut; the Chancellor Garland Memorial, Vanderbilt University, Nashville; Carrie Brown Memorial Fountain, Providence; Daniel Boone and the Ruff Fountain, Louisville.
Richard Ladegast, in January, 1902, wrote a sketch of Miss Yandell’s life and works for the _Outlook_, in which he says that Miss Yandell was the first woman to become a member of the National Sculpture Society. I quote from his article as follows: “The most imposing product of Miss Yandell’s genius was the heroic figure of Athena, twenty-five feet in height, which stood in front of the reproduction of the Parthenon at the Nashville Exposition. This is the largest figure ever designed by a woman.
[Illustration: STATUE OF DANIEL BOONE
ENID YANDELL
Made for St. Louis Exposition]
“The most artistic was probably the little silver tankard which she did for the Tiffany Company, a bit of modelling which involves the figures of a fisher-boy and a mermaid. The figure of Athena is large and correct; those of the fisher-boy and mermaid poetic and impassioned…. The boy kisses the maid when the lid is lifted. He is always looking over the edge, as if yearning for the fate that each new drinker who lifts the lid forces upon him.”
Of the Carrie Brown Memorial Fountain he says: “The design of the fountain represents the struggle of life symbolized by a group of figures which is intended to portray, according to Miss Yandell, not the struggle for bare existence, but ‘the attempt of the immortal soul within us to free itself from the handicaps and entanglements of its earthly environments. It is the development of character, the triumph of intellectuality and spirituality I have striven to express.’ Life is symbolized by the figure of a woman, the soul by an angel, and the earthly tendencies–duty, passion, and avarice–by male figures. Life is represented as struggling to free herself from the gross earthly forms that cling to her. The figure of Life shows a calm, placid strength, well calculated to conquer in a struggle; and the modelling of her clinging robes and the active muscle of the male figures is firm and life-like. The mantle of truth flows from the shoulders of the angel, forming a drapery for the whole group, and serving as a support for the basin, the edges of which are ornamented with dolphins spouting water.
“The silhouette formed by the mass of the fountain is most interesting and successful from all points of view. The lines of the composition are large and dignified, especially noticeable in the modelling of the individual figures, which is well studied and technically excellent.”
At Buffalo, where this fountain was exhibited, it received honorable mention.
Miss Yandell has been commissioned to execute a symbolical figure of victory and a statue of Daniel Boone for the St. Louis Exposition.
YKENS, LAURENCE CATHERINE. Elected to the Guild of Antwerp in 1659. Born in Antwerp. Pupil of her father, Jan Ykens. Flowers, fruits, and insects were her favorite subjects, and were painted with rare delicacy. Two of these pictures are in the Museo del Prado, at Madrid. They are a “Festoon of Flowers and Fruits with a Medallion in the Centre, on which is a Landscape”; and a “Garland of Flowers with a Similar Medallion.”
ZIESENSIS, MARGARETTA. There were few women artists in the Scandinavian countries in the early years of the eighteenth century. Among them was Margaretta Ziesensis, a Danish lady, who painted a large number of portraits and some historical subjects.
She was best known, however, for her miniature copies of the works of famous artists. These pictures were much the same in effect as the “picture-miniatures” now in vogue. Her copy of Correggio’s Zingarella was much admired, and was several times repeated.
SUPPLEMENT
Containing names previously omitted and additions. The asterisk (*) denotes preceding mention of the artist.
*BILDERS, MARIE VAN BOSSE. This celebrated landscape painter became an artist through her determination to be an artist rather than because of any impelling natural force driving her to this career.
After patient and continuous toil, she felt that she was developing an artistic impulse. The advice of Van de Sande-Bakhuyzen greatly encouraged her, and the candid and friendly criticism of Bosboom inspired her with the courage to exhibit her work in public.
In the summer of 1875, in Vorden, she met Johannes Bilders, under whose direction she studied landscape painting. This master took great pains to develop the originality of his pupil rather than to encourage her adapting the manner of other artists. During her stay in Vorden she made a distinct gain in the attainment of an individual style of painting.
After her return to her home at The Hague, Bilders established a studio there and showed a still keener interest in his pupil. This artistic friendship resulted in the marriage of the two artists, and in 1880 they established themselves in Oosterbeck.
Here began the intimate study of the heath which so largely influenced the best pictures by Frau Bilders. In the garden of the picturesque house in which the two artists lived was an old barn, which became her studio, where, early and late, in all sorts of weather, she devotedly observed the effects later pictured on her canvases. At this time she executed one of her best works, now in the collection of the Prince Regent of Brunswick. It is thus described by a Dutch writer in Rooses’ “Dutch Painters of the Nineteenth Century”:
“It represents a deep pool, overshadowed by old gnarled willows in their autumnal foliage, their silvery trunks bending over, as if to see themselves in the clear, still water. On the edge of the pool are flowers and variegated grasses, the latter looking as if they wished to crowd out the former–as if _they_ were in the right and the flowers in the wrong; as if such bright-hued creatures had no business to eclipse their more sombre tones; as if _they_ and _they_ alone were suited to this silent, forsaken spot.”
Johannes Bilders was fully twenty-five years older than his wife, and the failure of both his physical and mental powers in his last days required her absolute devotion to him. In spite of this, the garden studio was not wholly forsaken, and nearly every day she accomplished something there. After her husband’s death she had a long illness. On her recovery she returned to The Hague and took the studio which had been that of the artist Mauve.
The life of the town was wearisome to her, but she found a compensation in her re-union with her old friends, and with occasional visits to the heath she passed most of her remaining years in the city.
Her favorite subjects were landscapes with birch and beech trees, and the varying phases of the heath and of solitary and unfrequented scenes. Her works are all in private collections. Among them are “The Forester’s Cottage,” “Autumn in Doorwerth,” “The Old Birch,” and the “Old Oaks of Wodan at Sunset.”
BOZNANSKA, OLGA. Born in Cracow, where she was a pupil of Matejko. Later, in Munich, she studied with Kricheldorf and Duerr. Her mother was a French woman, and critics trace both Polish and French characteristics in her work.
She paints portraits and genre subjects. She is skilful in seizing salient characteristics, and her chief aim is to preserve the individuality of her sitters and models. She skilfully manages the side-lights, and by this means produces strong effects. After the first exhibition of her pictures in Berlin, her “God-given talent” was several times mentioned by the art critics.
At Munich she made a good impression by her pictures exhibited in 1893 and 1895; at the Exposition in Paris, 1889, her portrait and a study in pastel were much admired and were generously praised in the art journals.
*COX, LOUISE. The picture by Mrs. Cox, reproduced in this book, illustrates two lines in a poem by Austin Dobson, called “A Song of Angiola in Heaven.”
“Then set I lips to hers, and felt,– Ah, God,–the hard pain fade and melt.”
DE MORGAN, EMILY. Family name Pickering. When sixteen years old, this artist entered the Slade School, and eighteen months later received the Slade Scholarship, by which she was entitled to benefit for three years. At the end of the first year, however, she resigned this privilege because she did not wish to accept the conditions of the gift.
As a child she had loved the pictures of the precursors of Raphael, in the National Gallery, and her first exhibited picture, “Ariadne in Naxos,” hung in the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, proved how closely she had studied these old masters. At this time she knew nothing of the English Pre-Raphaelites; later, however, she became one of the most worthy followers of Burne-Jones.
About the time that she left the Slade School one of her uncles took up his residence in Florence, where she has spent several winters in work and study.
One of her most important pictures is inscribed with these lines:
“Dark is the valley of shadows,
Empty the power of kings;
Blind is the favor of fortune,
Hungry the caverns of death.
Dim is the light from beyond,
Unanswered the riddle of life.”
This pessimistic view of the world is illustrated by the figure of a king, who, in the midst of ruins, places his foot upon the prostrate form of a chained victim; Happiness, with bandaged eyes, scatters treasures into the bottomless pit, a desperate youth being about to plunge into its depths; a kneeling woman, praying for light, sees brilliant figures soaring upward, their beauty charming roses from the thorn bushes.
Other pictures by this artist remind one of the works of Botticelli. Of her “Ithuriel” W. S. Sparrow wrote: “It may be thought that this Ithuriel is too mild–too much like Shakespeare’s Oberon–to be in keeping with the terrific tragedy depicted in the first four books of the ‘Paradise Lost.’ Eve, too, lovely as she is, seems to bear no likelihood of resemblance to Milton’s superb mother of mankind. But the picture has a sweet, serene grace which should make us glad to accept from Mrs. De Morgan another Eve and another Ithuriel, true children of her own fancy.”
The myth of “Boreas and Orithyia,” though faulty perhaps in technique, is good in conception and arrangement.
Mrs. De Morgan has produced some impressive works in sculpture. Among these are “Medusa,” a bronze bust; and a “Mater Dolorosa,” in terra-cotta.
DESCHLY, IRENE. Born in Bucharest, the daughter of a Roumanian advocate. She gave such promise as an artist that a government stipend was bestowed on her, which enabled her to study in Paris, where she was a pupil of Laurens and E. Carriere.
Her work is tinged with the melancholy and intensity of her nature–perhaps of her race; yet there is something in her grim conceptions, or rather in her treatment of them, that demands attention and compels admiration. Even in her “Sweet Dream,” which represents the half-nude figure of a young girl holding a rose in her hand, there is more sadness than joy, as though she said, “It is only a dream, after all.” “Chanson,” exhibited at the Paris Exposition, 1900, displays something of the same quality.
ERISTOW-KASAK, PRINCESS MARIE. Among the many Russian portraits in the Paris Exposition, 1900, two, the work of this pupil of Michel de Zichys, stood out in splendid contrast with the crass realism or the weak idealism of the greater number. One was a half-length portrait of the laughing Mme. Paquin; full of life and movement were the pose of the figure, the fall of the draperies, and the tilt of the expressive fan. The other was the spirited portrait of Baron von Friedericks, a happy combination of cavalier and soldier in its manly strength.
When but sixteen years old, the Princess Marie roused the admiration of the Russian court by her portrait of the Grand Duke Sergius. This led to her painting portraits of various members of the royal family while she was still a pupil of De Zichys.
After her marriage she established herself in Paris, where she endeavors to preserve an incognito as an artist in order to work in the most quiet and devoted manner.
GOEBELER, ELISE. This artist studied drawing under Steffeck and color under Duerr, in Munich. Connoisseurs in art welcome the name of Elise Goebeler in exhibitions, and recall the remarkable violet-blue lights and the hazy atmosphere in her works, out of which emerges some charming, graceful figure; perhaps a young girl on whose white shoulders the light falls, while a shadow half conceals the rest of the form. These dreamy, Madonna-like beauties are the result of the most severe and protracted study. Without the remarkable excellence of their technique and the unusual quality of their color they would be the veriest sentimentalities; but wherever they are seen they command admiration.
Her “Cinderella,” exhibited in Berlin in 1880, was bought by the Emperor; another picture of the same subject, but quite different in effect, was exhibited in Munich in 1883. In the same year, in Berlin, “A Young Girl with Pussy-Willows” and “A Neapolitan Water Carrier” were seen. In 1887, in Berlin, her “Vanitas, Vanitatum Vanitas” and the “Net-Mender” were exhibited, and ten years later “Cheerfulness” was highly commended. At Munich, in 1899, her picture, called “Elegie,” attracted much attention and received unusual praise.
*HERBELIN, JEANE MATHILDE. This miniaturist has recently died at the age of eighty-four. In addition to the medals and honors she had received previous to 1855, it was that year decided that her works should be admitted to the Salon without examination. She was a daughter of General Habert, and a niece of Belloc, under whom she studied her art while still very young. Her early ambition was to paint large pictures, but Delacroix persuaded her to devote herself to miniature painting, in which art she has been called “the best in the world.”
She adopted the full tones and broad style to which she was accustomed in her larger works, and revolutionized the method of miniature painting in which stippling had prevailed. When eighteen years old, she went to Italy, where she made copies from the masters and did much original work as well.
Among her best portraits are those of the Baroness Habert, Guizot, Rossini, Isabey, Robert-Fleury, M. and Mme. de Torigny, Count de Zeppel, and her own portrait. Besides portraits, she painted a picture called “A Child Holding a Rose,” “Souvenir,” and “A Young Girl Playing with a Fan.”
JOHNSON, ADELAIDE. Born at Plymouth, Illinois. This sculptor first studied in the St. Louis School of Design, and in 1877, at the St. Louis Exposition, received two prizes for the excellence of her wood carving. During several years she devoted herself to interior decoration, designing not only the form and color to be used in decorating edifices, but also the furniture and all necessary details to complete them and make them ready for use.
Being desirous of becoming a sculptor, Miss Johnson went, in 1883, to England, Germany, and Italy. In Rome she was a pupil of Monteverde and of Altini, who was then president of the Academy of St. Luke.
After two years she returned to America and began her professional career in Chicago, where she remained but a year before establishing herself in Washington. Her best-known works are portrait busts, which are numerous. Many of these have been seen in the Corcoran Art Gallery and in other public exhibitions.
Of her bust of Susan B. Anthony, the sculptor, Lorado Taft, said: “Your bust of Miss Anthony is better than mine. I tried to make her real, but you have made her not only real, but ideal.” Among her portraits are those of General Logan, Dr. H. W. Thomas, Isabella Beecher Hooker, William Tebb, Esq., of London, etc.
KOEGEL, LINDA. Born at The Hague. A pupil of Stauffer-Bern in Berlin and of Herterich in Munich. Her attachment to impressionism leads this artist to many experiments in color–or, as one critic wrote, “to play with color.”
She apparently prefers to paint single figures of women and young girls, but her works include a variety of subjects. She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching. The light touch in some of her genre pictures is admirable, and in contrast, the portrait of her father— the court preacher–displays a masculine firmness in its handling, and is a very striking picture.
In 1895 she exhibited at the Munich Secession the portrait of a woman, delicate but spirited, and a group which was said to set aside every convention in the happiest manner.
KROENER, MAGDA. The pictures of flowers which this artist paints prove her to be a devoted lover of nature. She exhibited at Duesseldorf, in 1893, a captivating study of red poppies and another of flowering vetch, which were bought by the German Emperor. The following year she exhibited two landscapes, one of which was so much better than the other that it was suggested that she might have been assisted by her husband, the animal painter, Christian Kroener.
One of her most delightful pictures, “A Quiet Corner,” represents a retired nook in a garden, overgrown with foliage and flowers, so well painted that one feels that they must be fragrant.
LEPSIUS, SABINA. Daughter of Gustav Graf and wife of the portrait painter, Lepsius. She was a pupil of Gussow, then of the Julian Academy in Paris, and later studied in Rome. Her pictures have an unusual refinement; like some other German women artists, she aims at giving a subtle impression of character and personality in her treatment of externals, and her work has been said to affect one like music.
The portrait of her little daughter, painted in a manner which suggests Van Dyck, is one of the works which entitle her to consideration.
LEYSTER, JUDITH. A native of Haarlem on Zandam, the date of her birth being unknown. She died in 1660. In 1636 she married the well-known artist, Jan Molemaer. She did her work at a most interesting period in Dutch painting. Her earliest picture is dated 1629; she was chosen to the Guild of St. Luke at Haarlem in 1633.
Recent investigations make it probable that certain pictures which have for generations been attributed to Frans Hals were the work of Judith Leyster. In 1893 a most interesting lawsuit, which occurred in London and was reported in the _Times_, concerned a picture known as “The Fiddlers,” which had been sold as a work of Frans Hals for L4,500. The purchasers found that this claim was not well founded, and sought to recover their money.
A searching investigation traced the ownership of the work back to a connoisseur of the time of William III. In 1678 it was sold for a small sum, and was then called “A Dutch Courtesan Drinking with a Young Man.” The monogram on the picture was called that of Frans Hals, but as reproduced and explained by C. Hofstede de Groot in the “_Jahrbuch fuer Koeniglich-preussischen Kunst-Sammlungen_” for 1893, it seems evident that the signature is J. L. and not F. H.
Similar initials are on the “Flute Player,” in the gallery at Stockholm; the “Seamstress,” in The Hague Gallery, and on a picture in the Six collection at Amsterdam.
It is undeniable that these pictures all show the influence of Hals, whose pupil Judith Leyster may have been, and whose manner she caught as Mlle. Mayer caught that of Greuze and Prud’hon. At all events, the present evidence seems to support the claim that the world is indebted to Judith Leyster for these admirable pictures.
MACH, HILDEGARDE VON. This painter studied in Dresden and Munich, and under the influence of Anton Pepinos she developed her best characteristics, her fine sense of form and of color. She admirably illustrates the modern tendency in art toward individual expression–a tendency which permits the following of original methods, and affords an outlet for energy and strength of temperament.
Fraeulein Mach has made a name in both portrait and genre painting. Her “Waldesgrauen” represents two naked children in an attitude of alarm as the forest grows dark around them; it gives a vivid impression of the mysterious charm and the possible dangers which the deep woods present to the childish mind.
MAYER, MARIE FRANCOISE CONSTANCE. As early as 1806 this artist
received a gold medal from the Paris Salon, awarded to her picture of “Venus and Love Asleep.” Born 1775, died 1821. She studied under Suvee, Greuze, and Prud’hon. There are various accounts of the life of Mlle. Mayer. That of M. Charles Guenllette is the authority followed here. It is probable that Mlle. Mayer came under the influence of Prud’hon as early as 1802, possibly before that time.
Prud’hon, a sensitive man, absorbed in his art, had married at twenty a woman who had no sympathy with his ideals, and when she realized that he had no ambition, and was likely to be always poor, her temper got the better of any affection she had ever felt for him. Prud’hon, in humiliation and despair, lived in a solitude almost complete.
It was with difficulty that Mlle. Mayer persuaded this master to receive her as a pupil; but this being gained, both these painters had studios in the Sorbonne from 1809 to 1821. At the latter date all artists were obliged to vacate the Sorbonne ateliers to make room for some new department of instruction. Mlle. Mayer had been for some time in a depressed condition, and her friends had been anxious about her. Whether leaving the Sorbonne had a tendency to increase her melancholy is not known, but her suicide came as a great surprise and shock to all who knew her, especially to Prud’hon, who survived her less than two years.
Prud’hon painted several portraits of Mlle. Mayer, the best-known being now in the Louvre. It represents an engaging personality, in which vivacity and sensibility are distinctly indicated.
Mlle. Mayer had made her debut at the Salon of 1896 with a portrait of “Citizeness Mayer,” painted by herself, and showing a sketch for the portrait of her mother; also a picture of a “Young Scholar with a Portfolio Under His Arm,” and a miniature. From this time her work was seen at each year’s salon.
Her pictures in 1810 were the “Happy Mother” and the “Unhappy Mother,” which are now in the Louvre; the contrast between the joyousness of the mother with her child and the anguish of the mother who has lost her child is portrayed with great tenderness. The “Dream of Happiness,” also in the Louvre, represents a young couple in a boat with their child; the boat is guided down the stream of life by Love and Fortune. This is one of her best pictures. It is full of poetic feeling, and the flesh tints are unusually natural. The work of this artist is characterized by delicacy of touch and freshness of color while pervaded by a peculiar grace and charm. Her drawing is good, but the composition is less satisfactory.
It is well known that Prud’hon and his pupil painted many pictures in collaboration. This has led to an under-valuation of her ability, and both the inferior works of Prud’hon and bad imitations of him have been attributed to her. M. Guenllette writes that when Mlle. Mayer studied under Greuze she painted in his manner, and he inclines to the opinion that some pictures attributed to Greuze were the work of his pupil. In the same way she imitated Prud’hon, and this critic thinks it by no means certain that the master finished her work, as has been alleged.
In the Museum at Nancy are Mlle. Mayer’s portraits of Mme. and Mlle. Voiant; in the Museum of Dijon is an ideal head by her, and in the Bordeaux Gallery is her picture, called “Confidence.” “Innocence Prefers Love to Riches” and the “Torch of Venus” are well-known works by Mlle. Mayer.
MESDAG-VAN HOUTEN, S. Gold medal at Amsterdam, 1884; bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1889. Born at Groningen, 1834. In 1856 she married Mesdag, who, rather late in life decided to follow the career of a painter. His wife, not wishing to be separated from him in any sense, resolved on the same profession, and about 1870 they began their study. Mme. Mesdag acquired her technique with difficulty, and her success was achieved only as the result of great perseverance and continual labor. The artists of Oosterbeck and Brussels, who were her associates, materially aided her by their encouragement. She began the study of drawing at the age of thirty, and her first attempt in oils was made seven years later. Beginning with single twigs and working over them patiently she at length painted whole trees, and later animals. She came to know the peculiarities of nearly all native trees.
She built a studio in the woods of Scheveningen, and there developed her characteristics–close observation and careful reproduction of details.
In the summer of 1872 M. and Mme. Mesdag went to Friesland and Drenthe, where they made numerous sketches of the heath, sheep, farmhouses, and the people in their quaint costumes. One of Mme. Mesdag’s pictures, afterward exhibited at Berlin, is thus described: “On this canvas we see the moon, just as she has broken through a gray cloud, spreading her silvery sheen over the sleepy land; in the centre we are given a sheep-fold, at the door of which a flock of sheep are jostling and pushing each other, all eager to enter their place of rest. The wave-like movement of these animals is particularly graceful and cleverly done. A little shepherdess is guiding them, as anxious to get them in as they are to enter, for this means the end of her day’s work. Her worn-out blue petticoat is lighted up by a moonbeam; in her hand she appears to have a hoe. It is a most harmonious picture; every line is in accord with its neighbor.”
While residing in Brussels these two artists began to collect works of art for what is now known as the Mesdag Museum. In 1887 a wing was added to their house to accommodate their increasing treasures, which include especially good examples of modern French painting, pottery, tapestry, etc.
In 1889 an exhibition of the works of these painters was held. Here convincing proof was given of Mme. Mesdag’s accuracy, originality of interpretation, and her skill in the use of color.
MOeLLER, AGNES SLOTT, OR SLOTT-MOeLLER, AGNES. This artist follows the
young romantic movement in Denmark. She has embodied in her work a modern comprehension of old legends. The landscape and people of her native land seem to her as eminently suitable motives, and these realities she renders in the spirit of a by-gone age–that of the national heroes of the sagas and epics of the country, or the lyric atmosphere of the folk-songs.
She may depict these conceptions, full of feeling, in the dull colors of the North, or in rich and glowing hues, but the impression she gives is much the same in both cases, a generally restful effect, though the faces in her pictures are full of life and emotion. Her choice of subjects and her manner of treatment almost inevitably introduce some archaic quality in her work. This habit and the fact that she cares more for color than for drawing are the usual criticisms of her pictures.
Her “St. Agnes” is an interesting rendering of a well-worn subject. “Adelil the Proud,” exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1889, tells the story of the Duke of Frydensburg, who was in love with Adelil, the king’s daughter. The king put him to death, and the attendants of Adelil made of his heart a viand which they presented to her. When she learned what this singular substance was–that caused her to tremble violently–she asked for wine, and carrying the cup to her lips with a tragic gesture, in memory of her lover, she died of a broken heart. It is such legends as these that Mme. Slott-Moeller revives, and by which she is widely known.
MORISOT OR MORIZOT, BERTHE. Married name Manet. Born at Bourges, 1840, died in Paris, 1895. A pupil of Guichard and Oudinot. After her marriage to Eugene Manet she came under the influence of his famous brother, Edouard. This artist signed her pictures with her maiden name, being too modest to use that which she felt belonged only to Edouard Manet, in the world of art.
A great interest was, however, aroused in the private galleries, where the works of the early impressionists were seen, by the pictures of Berthe Morisot. Camille Mauclair, an enthusiastic admirer of this school of art, says: “Berthe Morizot will remain the most fascinating figure of Impressionism–the one who has stated most precisely the femininity of this luminous and iridescent art.”
A great-granddaughter of Fragonard, she seems to have inherited his talent; Corot and Renoir forcibly appealed to her. These elements, modified by her personal attitude, imparted a strong individuality to her works, which divided honors with her personal charms.
According to the general verdict, she was equally successful in oils and water-colors. Her favorite subjects–although she painted others–were sea-coast views, flowers, orchards, and gardens and young girls in every variety of costume.
After the death of Edouard Manet, she devoted herself to building up an appreciation of his work in the public mind. So intelligent were her methods that she doubtless had great influence in making the memory of his art enduring.
Among her most characteristic works are: “The Memories of the Oise,” 1864; “Ros-Bras,” “Finistere,” 1868; “A Young Girl at a Window,” 1870; a pastel, “Blanche,” 1873; “The Toilet,” and “A Young Woman at the Ball.”
*NEY, ELIZABETH. The Fine Arts jury of the St. Louis Exposition have accepted three works by this sculptor to be placed in the Fine Arts Building. They are the Albert Sidney Johnston memorial; the portrait bust of Jacob Grimm, in marble; and a bronze statuette of Garibaldi. It is unusual to allow so many entries to one artist.
PAULI, HANNA, family name, Hirsch. Bronze medal at Paris Exposition, 1889. Born in Stockholm and pupil of the Academy of Fine Arts there; later, of Dagnan-Bouveret, in Paris. Her husband, also an artist, is Georg Pauli. They live in Stockholm, where she paints portraits and genre subjects.
At the Paris Exposition, 1900, she exhibited two excellent portraits, one of her father and another of Ellen Key; also a charming genre subject, “The Old Couple.”
ROMANI, JUANA, H. C. Born at Velletri, 1869. Pupil of Henner and Roybet, in Paris, where she lives. This artist is, _sui generis_, a daughter of the people, of unconventional tastes and habits. She has boldly reproduced upon canvas a fulness of life and joy, such as is rarely seen in pictures.
While she has caught something of the dash of Henner, and something of the color of Roybet, and gained a firm mastery of the best French technique, these are infused with the ardor of a Southern temperament. Her favorite subjects are women–either in the strength and beauty of maternity, or in the freshness of youth, or even of childhood.
Some critics feel that, despite much that is desirable in her work, the soul is lacking in the women she paints. This is no doubt due in some measure to certain types she has chosen–for example, Salome and Herodias, in whom one scarcely looks for such an element.
Her portrait of Roybet and a picture of “Bianca Capello” were exhibited at Munich in 1893 and at Antwerp in 1894. The “Pensierosa” and a little girl were at the Paris Salon in 1894, and were much admired. “Herodias” appeared at Vienna in 1894 and at Berlin the following year, while “Primavera” was first seen at the Salon of 1895. This picture laughs, as children laugh, with perfect abandon.
A portrait of Miss Gibson was also at the Salon of 1895, and “Vittoria Colonna” and a “Venetian Girl” were sent to Munich. These were followed by the “Flower of the Alps” and “Desdemona” in 1896; “Dona Mona,” palpitating with life, and “Faustalla of Pistoia,” with short golden hair and a majestic poise of the head, in 1897; “Salome” and “Angelica,” two widely differing pictures in character and color, in 1898; “Mina of Fiesole,” and the portrait of a golden-haired beauty in a costume of black and gold, in 1899; the portrait of Mlle. H. D., in 1900; “L’Infante,” one of her most noble creations, of a remarkably fine execution, and a ravishing child called “Roger”–with wonderful blond hair–in 1901.
Mlle. Romani often paints directly on the canvas without preliminary sketch or study, and sells many of her pictures before they are finished. Some of her works have been purchased by the French Government, and there are examples of these in the Luxembourg, and in the Gallery of Muelhausen.
RUPPRECHT, TINI. After having lessons from private instructors, this artist studied under Lenbach. She has been much influenced by Gainsborough, Lawrence, and Reynolds, traces of their manner being evident in her work. She renders the best type of feminine seductiveness with delicacy and grace; she avoids the trivial and gross, but pictures all the allurements of an innocent coquetry.
Her portrait of the Princess Marie, of Roumania, was exhibited in Munich in 1901; its reality and personality were notable, and one critic called it “an oasis in a desert of portraits.” “Anno 1793” and “A Mother and Child” have attracted much favorable comment in Munich, where her star is in the ascendant, and greater excellence in her work is confidently prophesied.
SCHWARTZE, THERESE. Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1885; gold medal, 1889. Diploma at Ghent, 1892; gold medal, 1892. At International Exhibition, Barcelona, 1898, a gold medal. Made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau, 1896. Born in Amsterdam about 1851. A pupil of her father until his death, when she became a student under Gabriel Max, in Munich, for a year. Returning to Amsterdam, she was much encouraged by Israels, Bilders, and Bosboom, friends of her father.
She went to Paris in 1878 and was so attracted by the artistic life which she saw that she determined to study there. But she did not succeed in finding a suitable studio, neither an instructor who pleased her, and she returned to Amsterdam. It was at this time that she painted the portrait of Frederick Mueller.
In the spring of 1880 she went again to Paris, only to “feast on things artistic.” A little later she was summoned to the palace at Soestdijk to instruct the Princess Henry of the Netherlands. In 1883 she served with many distinguished artists on the art jury of the International Exhibition at Amsterdam.
In 1884 she once more yielded to the attraction that Paris had for her, and there made a great advance in her painting. In 1885 she began to work in pastel, and one of her best portraits in this medium was that of the Princess (Queen) Wilhelmina, which was loaned by the Queen Regent for the exhibition of this artist’s work in Amsterdam in 1890.
The Italian Government requested Miss Schwartze to paint her own portrait for the Uffizi Gallery. This was shown at the Paris Salon, 1889, and missed the gold medal by two votes. This portrait is thought by some good judges to equal that of Mme. Le Brun. The head with the interesting eyes, shaded by the hand which wards off the light, and the penetrating, observant look, are most impressive.
She has painted a portrait of Queen Emma, and sent to Berlin in 1902 a portrait of Wolmaran, a member of the Transvaal Government, which was esteemed a work of the first rank. She has painted several portraits of her mother, which would have made for her a reputation had she done no others. She has had many notable men and women among her sitters, and though not a robust woman, she works incessantly without filling all the commissions offered her.
Her pictures are in the Museums of Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
Her work is full of life and strength, and her touch shows her confidence in herself and her technical knowledge. She is, however, a severe critic of her own work and is greatly disturbed by indiscriminating praise. She is serious and preoccupied in her studio, but with her friends she is full of gayety, and is greatly admired, both as a woman and as an artist.
VAN DER VEER, MISS. “This artist,” says a recent critic, “has studied to some purpose in excellent continental schools, and is endowed withal with a creative faculty and breadth in conception rarely found in American painters of either sex. Her genre work is full of life, light, color, and character, with picturesque grouping, faultless atmosphere, and a breadth of technical treatment that verges on audacity, yet never fails of its designed purpose.”
The fifty pictures exhibited by Miss Van der Veer in Philadelphia, in February, 1904, included interiors, portraits–mostly in pastel–flower studies and sketches, treating Dutch peasant life. Among the most notable of these may be mentioned “The Chimney Corner,” “Saturday Morning,” “Mother and Child,” and a portrait of the artist herself.
WALDAU, MARGARETHE. Born in Breslau, 1860. After studying by herself in Munich, this artist became a pupil of Streckfuss in Berlin, and later, in Nuremberg, studied under the younger Graeb and Ritter. The first subject chosen by her for a picture was the “Portal of the Church of the Magdalene.” Her taste for architectural motives was strengthened by travel in Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
The fine old churches of Nuremberg and the venerable edifices of Breslau afforded her most attractive subjects, which she treated with such distinction that her pictures were sought by kings and princes as well as by appreciative connoisseurs.
Her success increased her confidence in herself and enhanced the boldness and freedom with which she handled her brush. An exhibition of her work in Berlin led to her receiving a commission from the Government to paint two pictures for the Paris Exposition, 1900. “Mayence at Sunset” and the “Leipzig Market-Place in Winter” were the result of this order, and are two of her best works.
Occasionally this artist has painted genre subjects, but her real success has not been in this direction.