Mclaughlin, Mary Louise M.Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1878; silver medal, Paris Exposition, 1889; gold medal, Atlanta, 1895; bronze medal, Buffalo, 1900. Member of the Society of Arts, London; honorary member of National Mineral Painters' League, Cincinnati. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Pupil of Cincinnati Art Academy and of H. F. Farny and Frank Duveneck in private classes.
Miss McLaughlin has painted in oil and water-colors and exhibited in various places, as indicated by the honors she has received. Having practised under- and over-glaze work on pottery, as well as porcelain etching and decorative etching on metals, she is now devoting herself to making the porcelain known as Losanti Ware.
Of a recent exhibition, 1903, a critic wrote: "Perhaps the most beautiful and distinguished group in the exhibition is that of Miss McLaughlin, one of the earliest artistic workers in clay of the United States. She sends a collection of lovely porcelain vases, of a soft white tone and charming in contour. Some of these have open-work borders, others are decorated in relief, and the designs are tinted with delicate jade greens, dark blues, or salmon pinks. This ware goes by the name of Losanti, from the early name of Cincinnati, L'Osantiville."
This artist has written several books on china painting and pottery decoration.
McManus Mansfield, Blanche.Diplomas from the New Orleans Centennial and the Woman's Department, Chicago, 1903. Member of the New Vagabonds, London, and the Touring Club of France. Born in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, this artist has made her studies in London and Paris. Her principal work has been done in book illustrations. The following list gives some of her most important publications:
"Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass." DeLuxe edition in color. New York, 1899."The Calendar of Omar Khayyam." In color. New York, 1900."The Altar Service." Thirty-six wood-cut blocks printed onJapan vellum. London, 1902."The Coronation Prayer-Book." (Wood-cut borders.) OxfordUniversity Press, 1902."Cathedrals of Northern France." In collaboration with FrancisMiltoun. Boston and London, 1903."Cathedrals of Southern France." In collaboration with FrancisMiltoun. Sold for publication in London and Boston, 1904."A Dante Calendar." London, 1903."A Rubaiyat Calendar." Boston, 1903."The King's Classics." (Designs and Decorations.) London,1902-1903."The Book of Days." A Calendar. Sold in London for 1904.
"Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass." DeLuxe edition in color. New York, 1899.
"Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass." De
Luxe edition in color. New York, 1899.
"The Calendar of Omar Khayyam." In color. New York, 1900.
"The Calendar of Omar Khayyam." In color. New York, 1900.
"The Altar Service." Thirty-six wood-cut blocks printed onJapan vellum. London, 1902.
"The Altar Service." Thirty-six wood-cut blocks printed on
Japan vellum. London, 1902.
"The Coronation Prayer-Book." (Wood-cut borders.) OxfordUniversity Press, 1902.
"The Coronation Prayer-Book." (Wood-cut borders.) Oxford
University Press, 1902.
"Cathedrals of Northern France." In collaboration with FrancisMiltoun. Boston and London, 1903.
"Cathedrals of Northern France." In collaboration with Francis
Miltoun. Boston and London, 1903.
"Cathedrals of Southern France." In collaboration with FrancisMiltoun. Sold for publication in London and Boston, 1904.
"Cathedrals of Southern France." In collaboration with Francis
Miltoun. Sold for publication in London and Boston, 1904.
"A Dante Calendar." London, 1903.
"A Dante Calendar." London, 1903.
"A Rubaiyat Calendar." Boston, 1903.
"A Rubaiyat Calendar." Boston, 1903.
"The King's Classics." (Designs and Decorations.) London,1902-1903.
"The King's Classics." (Designs and Decorations.) London,
1902-1903.
"The Book of Days." A Calendar. Sold in London for 1904.
"The Book of Days." A Calendar. Sold in London for 1904.
After speaking of several works by Miss McManus, a notice from London says: "A more difficult or at least a more intricate series were the designs cut on wood for 'The Altar Service Book,' just issued in London by that newly founded venture, the De La More Press; which has drawn unto itself such scholars as Dr. Furnival, Professor Skeat, and Israel Gollancz. These designs by Miss McManus were printed direct from the wood blocks in very limited editions, on genuine vellum, on Japanese vellum, and a small issue on a real sixteenth-century hand-made paper. The various editions were immediately taken up in London on publication; hence it is unlikely that copies will be generally seen in America.
DELFT. Blanche McManus Mansfield
DELFT
Blanche McManus Mansfield
"We learn, however, that the original wood blocks will be shown at the St. Louis Exposition, in the section to be devoted to the work of American artists resident abroad. We suggest that all lovers of latter-day bookmaking 'make a note of it,' recalling meanwhile that itwas this successful American designer who produced also the decorative wood-cut borders and initials which were used in 'The Coronation Prayer-Book of King Edward VII.,' issued from the celebrated Oxford University Press. There were forty initials or headings, embodying the coronation regalia, including the crown, sceptre, rose, thistle, shamrock, etc. The magnificent cover for the book was also designed by this artist.
"Among the American artists who have made a distinctive place in art circles, not only in America but on 'the other side,' is Mrs. M. F. Mansfield, formerly Blanche McManus of Woodville, Mississippi.
"In London she is widely known as a skilful, able, and versatile artist, and her remarkable success there is an illustration of 'the American invasion.' Little has been written in America, especially in the South, of what this talented Southern woman has accomplished. She has never sought personal advertisement; on the contrary, she has shrunk from any kind of publicity—even that which would have accrued from a proper valuation of her work.
"She is one of those artists whose talent is equalled only by her modesty, who, enamoured of her art and aiming at a patient, painstaking realization of her ideal, has been content to work on in silence. In the estimation of art connoisseurs, Blanche McManus is an artist of unquestionable talent and varied composition, who has already done much striking work. Her execution in the various branches has attracted international attention.
"She paints well in water-colors and in oil, and heretching is considered excellent. Her drawing is stamped good, and every year she has showed rapid improvement in design. She is a highly cultivated woman, with a close and accurate observation. A sincere appreciation of nature was revealed in her earliest efforts, and for some years she devoted much time to its study."
Moring'sQuarterlysays in regard to the special work which Mrs. Mansfield has done: "It is so seldom that an artist is able to take in hand what may be termed the entire decoration of a book—including in that phrase cover, illustration, colophon, head- and tail-pieces, initial letters, and borders—that it is a pleasure to find in the subject of our paper a lady who may be said to be capable of taking all these points into consideration in the embellishment of a volume."
Medici, Marie de'.Wife of Henry IV. Born at Florence, 1573; died at Cologne, 1642. A portrait of herself, engraved on wood, bears the legend, "Maria Medici F. MDLXXXII." Another portrait of a girl, attributed to her, is signed, "L. O. 1617." It may be considered a matter of grave doubt whether the nine-year-old girl drew and engraved with her own hand the first-named charming picture, which has been credited to her with such frank insouciance.
Mengs, Anna Maria.Member of the Academy of San Fernando. She was a daughter of Anton Rafael Mengs, and was born in Dresden in 1751, where she received instruction from her father. In 1777 she married the engraver Salvador Carmona in Rome, and went with him to Spain, where she died in 1790. Portraits and miniaturesof excellent quality were executed by her, and on them her reputation rests.
Merian, Maria Sibylla.Born at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1647. This artist merits our attention, although her art was devoted to an unusual purpose. Her father was a learned geographer and engraver whose published works are voluminous. Her maternal grandfather was the eminent engraver, Theodore de Bry or Brie.
From her childhood Anna Sibylla Merian displayed an aptitude for drawing and a special interest in insect life. The latter greatly disturbed her mother, but she could not turn the child's attention from entomology, and was forced to allow that study to become her chief pursuit.
The flower painter, Abraham Mignon, was her master in drawing and painting; but at an early age, before her studies were well advanced, she married an architect, John Andrew Graf, of Nuremberg, with whom she lived unhappily. She passed nearly twenty years in great seclusion, and, as she tells us in the preface to one of her books, she devoted these years to the examination and study of various insects, watching their transformations and making drawings from them. Many of these were in colors on parchment and were readily sold to connoisseurs.
Her first published work was called "The Wonderful Transformations of Caterpillars." It appeared in 1679, was fully illustrated by copper plate engravings, executed by herself from her own designs. About 1684 she separated from her husband, and with her daughters returned to Frankfort. Many interesting stories are told of her life there.
She made a journey to Friesland and was a convert to the doctrines of Labadie, but she was still devoted to her study and research. She was associated with the notable men of her time, and became the friend of the father of Rachel Ruysch. Although Madame Merian, who had taken her maiden name, was seventeen years older than the gifted flower painter, she became to her an example of industry and devotion to study.
Madame Merian had long desired to examine the insects of Surinam, and in 1699, by the aid of the Dutch Government, she made the journey—of which a French poet wrote:
"Sibylla à Surinam va chercher la nature,Avec l'esprit d'un Sage, et le coeur d'un Heros"
"Sibylla à Surinam va chercher la nature,Avec l'esprit d'un Sage, et le coeur d'un Heros"
"Sibylla à Surinam va chercher la nature,
Avec l'esprit d'un Sage, et le coeur d'un Heros"
—which indicates the view then held of a journey which would now attract no attention.
While in Guiana some natives brought her a box filled with "lantern flies," as they were then called. The noise they made at night was so disturbing that she liberated them, and the flies, regaining liberty, flashed out their most brilliant light, for which Madame Merian was unprepared, and in her surprise dropped the box. From this circumstance a most exaggerated idea obtained concerning the illuminating power of the flies.
The climate of Surinam was so unhealthy for Madame Merian that she could remain there but two years, and in that time she gathered the materials for her great work called "Metamorphoses Insectorum Surinamensium," etc. The illustrations were her own, and she pictured many most interesting objects—animals and vegetables as wellas insects—which were quite unknown in Europe. Several editions of this book were published both in German and French. Her plates are still approved and testify to the scope and thoroughness of her research, as well as to her powers as an artist.
Her chief work, however, was a "History of the Insects of Europe, Drawn from Nature, and Explained by Maria Sibylla Merian." The illustrations of this work were beautiful and of great interest, as the insects, from their first state to their last, were represented with the plants and flowers which they loved, each object being correctly and tastefully pictured. Most of the original paintings for these works are in the British Museum. In the Vienna Gallery is a "Basket of Flowers" by this artist, and in the Basle Museum a picture of "Locust and Chafers."
The daughters of this learned artist naturalist, Joanna Maria Helena and Dorothea, shared the pursuits and labors of their mother, and it was her intention to publish their drawings as an appendix to her works. She did not live to do this, and later the daughters published a separate volume of their own.
This extraordinary woman, whose studies and writings added so much to the knowledge of her time, was neither beautiful nor graceful. Her portraits present a woman with hard and heavy features, her hair in short curls surmounted by a stiff and curious headdress, made of folds of some black stuff.
Merritt, Mrs. Anna Lea.Honorable mention, Paris Exposition, 1889; two medals and a diploma, ChicagoExposition, 1893. In 1890 her picture of "Love Locked Out" was purchased by the Chantry fund, London, for two hundred and fifty pounds. This honor has been accorded to few women, and of these I think Mrs. Merritt was first. Member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers. Born in Philadelphia. Pupil of Heinrich Hoffman in Dresden, and of Henry Merritt—whom she married—in London.
Mrs. Merritt has a home in Hampshire, England, but is frequently in Philadelphia, where she exhibits her pictures, which have also been seen at the Royal Academy since 1871.
This artist is represented by her pictures in the National Gallery of British Art, in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and by her portrait of Mr. James Russell Lowell in Memorial Hall, Harvard University.
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Michis, Maria.SeeCattaneo.
Milbacher, Louise von.Prize at Berlin in 1886. Born at Böhmischbrod, 1845. Pupil of Pönninger and Eisenmenger. A painter of portraits and of sacred and genre subjects. Three of her portraits are well known—those of Baron Thienen, General von Neuwirth, and Baron Eber-Eschenbach. The altar-piece in the chapel of the Vienna Institute, a "Holy Family," is by this artist. She has also painted still-life and animal subjects.
Modigliani, Signorina Corinna.Silver medal at Turin Exposition, 1898; silver medal at the Exposition of Feminine Art, 1899, 1900; diploma at Leghorn, 1901;gold medal. Member of the International Artistic Association. Born in Rome. Pupil of Professore Commendatore Pietro Vanni.
This artist has exhibited her works in the Expositions of Rome, Turin, Milan, Leghorn, Munich, Petersburg, and Paris since 1897, and will contribute to the St. Louis Exposition. Her pictures have been sold in Paris, London, and Ireland, as well as in Rome and other Italian cities, where many of them are in the collections of distinguished families.
Moldura, Lilla.A Neapolitan painter. Her father was an Italian and her mother a Spaniard. She was instructed in the elements of art by various excellent teachers, and then studied oil painting under Maldarelli and water-color under Mancini. She has often exhibited pictures in Naples, to the satisfaction of both artists and critics, and has also won success in London. She has been almost equally happy in views of the picturesque Campagna, and in interiors, both in oil and water-colors. The interior of the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, in the Church of the Gerolamini, is strong in execution and good in drawing and color.
Möller, Agnes Slott.Born in 1862. Resides in Copenhagen. The especial work of this artist, by which her reputation is world-wide, is the illustration of old legends for children's books.
Montalba, Clara.Associate of the Society of Painters in Water-Colors, London, and of the Belgian Society of Water-Colorists. Born in Cheltenham, 1842. Pupil of Isabey in Paris. Her professional life has been spent inLondon and Venice. She has sent her pictures to the Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery exhibitions since 1879. "Blessing a Tomb, Westminster," was at the Philadelphia Exposition, 1876; "Corner of St. Mark's" and "Fishing Boats, Venice," were at Paris, 1878.
In 1874 she exhibited at the Society of British Artists, "Il Giardino Publico"—the Public Garden—of which a writer in theArt Journalsaid: "'Il Giardino Publico' stands foremost among the few redeeming features of the exhibition. In delicate perception of natural beauty the picture suggests the example of Corot. Like the great Frenchman, Miss Montalba strives to interpret the sadder moods of nature, when the wind moves the water a little mournfully and the outlines of the objects become uncertain in the filmy air."
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Moretto, Emma.Venetian painter, exhibited at Naples, in 1877, "Abbey of St. Gregory at Venice"; at Turin, in 1880, a fine view of the "Canal of the Giudecca," and "Canal of S. Giorgio"; at the National Exposition in Milan, 1881, "Sunset" and a marine view; at Rome, in 1883, "Excursion on the Lagoon." Still others of the same general character are: "A Gondola," "At St. Mark's," "Grand Canal," "Morning at Sea," etc.
Moron, Therese Concordia.Born in Dresden, 1725; died in Rome, 1806. Pupil, of her father, Ismael Mengs. Her attention was divided between enamel painting and pastel, much of the latter being miniature work. In the Dresden Gallery are two of her pastel portraits and twocopies in miniature of Correggio, viz., a half-length portrait of herself and a portrait of her sister, Julie Mengs; a copy of St. Jerome, or "The Day"—original in Parma—and "The Night."
A curious story has recently been published to the effect that in 1767 this artist sent word to Duke Xavier of Saxony that during the Seven Years' War she painted a copy in miniature of Correggio's "Holy Mother with the Christ Child, Mary Magdalen, Hieronymus, and Two Angels," which she sent by Cardinal Albani to the Duke's father—Frederick Augustus II. of Saxony and Augustus III. of Poland—at Warsaw. It was claimed that two hundred and fifty ducats were due her. Apparently the demand was not met; but, on the other hand, the lady seems to have received for some years a pension of three hundred thalers from the Electorate of Saxony without making any return. Probably her claim was satisfied by this pension.
Moser, Mary.One of the original members of the London Academy. The daughter of a German artist, who resided in London. She was as well known for her wit as for her art. A friend of Fuseli, she was said to be as much in love with him as he was in love with Angelica Kauffman. Dr. Johnson sometimes met Miss Moser at the house of Nollekens, where they made merry over a cup of tea.
Queen Charlotte commissioned this painter to decorate a chamber, for which work she paid more than nine hundred pounds, and was so well pleased that she complimented the artist by commanding the apartment to be called "Miss Moser's Room."
Mott, Mrs. Alice.Born at Walton on Thames. Pupil of the Slade School and Royal Academy in London, and of M. Charles Chaplin in Paris in his studio. A miniaturist whose works are much esteemed. Her work is life-like, artistic, and strong in drawing, color, and composition. After finishing her study under masters she took up miniature painting by herself, studying the works of old miniaturists.
Recently she writes me: "I have departed from the ordinary portrait miniature, and am now painting what I call picture miniatures. For instance, I am now at work on the portrait of Miss D. C., who is in old-fashioned dress, low bodice, and long leg-of-mutton sleeves. She is represented as running in the open, with sky and tree background. She has a butterfly net over her shoulder, which floats out on the wind; she is looking up and smiling; her hair and her sash are blown out. It is to be called, 'I'd be a Butterfly.' The dress is the yellow of the common butterfly. It is a large miniature. I hope to send it, with others, to the St. Louis Exposition."
Her miniatures are numerous and in private hands. A very interesting one belongs to the Bishop of Ripon and is a portrait of Mrs. Carpenter, his mother.
Muntz, Laura A.
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Murray, Elizabeth.Member of the Institute of Painters in Water-Colors, London, and of the American Society of Water-Color Painters, New York. Her pictures are of genre subjects, many of them being of Oriental figures. Among these are "Music in Morocco," "A Moorish Saint," "The Greek Betrothed," etc. Other subjects are "The Gipsy Queen," "Dalmatian Peasant," "The Old Story in Spain," etc.
Nathan, Signora Liliah Ascoli.Rome.
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Negro, Teresa.Born in Turin, where she resides. She has made a study of antique pottery and has been successful in its imitation. Her vases and amphorae have been frequently exhibited and are praised by connoisseurs and critics. At the Italian National Exposition, 1880, she exhibited a terra-cotta reproduction of a classic design, painted in oils; also a wooden dish which resembled an antique ceramic.
Nelli, Plautilla.There is a curious fact connected with two women artists of Florence in the middle of the sixteenth century. In that city of pageants—where Ghirlandajo saw, in the streets, in churches, and on various ceremonial occasions, the beautiful women with whom he still makes us acquainted—these ladies, daughters of noble Florentine families, were nuns.
No Shakespearean dissector has, to my knowledge, affirmed that Hamlet's advice to Ophelia, "Get thee to a nunnery," and his assertion, "I have heard of your paintings, too," prove that Ophelia was an artist and a nunnery a favorable place in which to set up a studio. Yet I think I could make this assumption as convincing as many that have been "proved" by thepost obitumatomizers of the great poet's every word.
But we have not far to seek for the reasons which led Plautilla Nelli and Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi to choose the conventual life. The subjects of their pictures prove that their thoughts were fixed on a life quite out of tune with that which surrounded them in their homes. If they pictured rich draperies and rare gems, it was but to adorn with them the Blessed Virgin Mother and the holy saints, in token of their belief that all of pomp and value in this life can but faintly symbolize the glory of the life to come.
Plautilla Nelli, born in Florence in 1523, entered the convent of St. Catherine of Siena, in her native city, and in time became its abbess. Patiently, with earnest prayer, she studied and copied the works of Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto, until she was able to paint an original "Adoration of the Magi" of such excellence as to secure her a place among the painters of Florence.
Many of her pictures remained in her convent, but she also painted a "Madonna Surrounded by Saints" for the choir of Santa Lucia at Pistoja. There are pictures attributed to Plautilla Nelli in Berlin—notably the "Visit of Martha to Christ,"—which are characterized by the earnestness, purity, and grace of her beloved Fra Bartolommeo. Her "Adoration of the Wise Men" is at Parma; the "Descent from the Cross" in Florence; the "Last Supper" in the church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
There are traditions of her success as a teacher of painting in her convent, but of this we have no exact knowledge such as we have of the work of the "SuorPlautilla," the name by which she came to be known in all Italy.
Nemes-Ransonnett, Countess Elisa.Born at Vienna, 1843. She studied successively with Vastagh, Lulos, Aigner, Schilcher, Lenbach, Angeli, and J. Benczur, and opened her studio at Kun Szent Miklos near Budapest. The "Invitation to the Wedding" was well received, and her portraits of Schiller and Perczel are in public galleries—the former in the Vienna Künstlerhaus, and the latter in the Deputy House at Budapest.
Newcomb, Maria Guise.Born in New Jersey. Pupil of Schenck, Chialiva, and Edouard Detaille in Paris. Travelled in Algeria and the Sahara, studying the Arab and his horses. Very few artists can be compared with Miss Newcomb in representing horses. She has a genius for portraying this animal, and understands its anatomy as few painters have done.
She was but a child when sketching horses and cattle was her pastime, and so great was her fondness for it that the usual dolls and other toys were crowded out of her life. Her studies in Paris were comprehensive, and her work shows the results and places her among the distinguished painters of animals.
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Ney, Elisabeth.Born in 1830. After studying at the Academy in Berlin, this sculptor went to Munich, where she was devoted to her art. She then came to Texas and remained some years in America. She returned to Berlin in 1897. Among her best known works are busts ofGaribaldi, of J. Grimm, 1863, "Prometheus Bound," 1868, and a statue of Louis II. of Bavaria.
Nicholls, Mrs. Rhoda Holmes.Queen's Scholarship, Bloomsbury Art School, London; gold medal, Competitive Prize Fund Exhibition, New York; medal, Chicago Exposition, 1893; medal, Tennessee Exposition, 1897; bronze medal at Buffalo Exposition, 1901. Member of American Water-Color Society, New York Water-Color Society, Woman's Art Club, American Society of Miniature Painters, Pen and Brush Club; honorable member of Woman's Art Club, Canada. Born in Coventry, England. Pupil of Bloomsbury School of Art, London; of Cannerano and Vertunni in Rome, where she was elected to the Circolo Artistico and the Società degli Aquarelliste.
Her pictures are chiefly figure subjects, among which are "Those Evening Bells," "The Scarlet Letter," "A Daughter of Eve," "Indian after the Chase," "Searching the Scriptures," etc.
In theStudio, March, 1901, in writing of the exhibition of the American Water-Color Society, the critic says: "In her two works, 'Cherries' and 'A Rose,' Mrs. Rhoda Holmes Nicholls shows us a true water-color executed by a master hand. The subject of each is slight; each stroke of her brush is made once and for all, with a precision and dash that are inspiriting; and you have in each painting the sparkle, the deft lightness of touch, the instantaneous impression of form and coloring that a water-color should have."
AN INDIAN AFTER THE CHASE. Rhoda Holmes Nichols
AN INDIAN AFTER THE CHASE
Rhoda Holmes Nichols
Mrs. Nicholls is also known as an illustrator. Harold Payne says of her: "Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, althoughan illustrator of the highest order, cannot be strictly classed as one, for the reason that she is equally great in every other branch of art. However, as many of her best examples of water-colors are ultimately reproduced for illustrative purposes, and as even her oil paintings frequently find their way into the pages of art publications, it is not wrong to denominate her as an illustrator, and that of the most varied and prolific type. She may, like most artists, have a specialty, but a walk through her studio and a critical examination of her work—ranging all along the line of oil paintings, water-colors of the most exquisite type, wash drawings, crayons, and pastels—would scarcely result in discovering her specialty.... As a colorist she has few rivals, and her acute knowledge of drawing and genius for composition are apparent in everything she does."
Nichols, Catherine Maude, R. E.The pictures of this artist have been hung on the line at the Royal Academy exhibitions a dozen times at least. From Munich she has received an official letter thanking her for sending her works to exhibitions in that city. Fellow of the Royal Painter-Etchers' Society; president of the Woodpecker Art Club, Norwich; Member of Norwich Art Circle and of a Miniature Painters' Society and the Green Park Club, London. Born in Norwich. Self-taught. Has worked in the open at Barbizon, in Normandy, in Cornwall, Devon, London, and all around the east coast of Norfolk.
Miss Nichols has held three exhibitions of her pictures both in oil and water-colors in London. She has executedmore than a hundred copper plates, chiefly dry-points. The pictures in oils and water-colors, the miniatures and the proofs of her works have found purchasers, almost without exception, and are in private hands. Most of the plates she has retained.
Miss Nichols has illustrated some books, her own poems being of the number, as well as her "Old Norwich." She has also made illustrations for journals and magazines.
One is impressed most agreeably with the absence of mannerism in Miss Nichols' work, as well as with the pronounced artistic treatment of her subjects. Her sketches of sea and river scenery are attractive; the views from her home county, Norfolk, have a delightful feeling about them. "Norwich River at Evening" is not only a charming picture, but shows, in its perspective and its values, the hand of a skilful artist. "Mousehold Heath," showing a rough and broken country, is one of her strongest pictures in oils; "Stretching to the Sea" is also excellent. Among the water-colors "Strangers' Hall," Norwich, and "Fleeting Clouds," merit attention, as do a number of others. One could rarely see so many works, with such varied subjects, treated in oils, water-colors, dry point, etc., by the same artist.
I quote the following paragraph from theStudioof April, 1903: "Miss C. M. Nichols is an artist of unquestionable talent, and her work in the various mediums she employs deserves careful attention. She paints well both in water-colors and in oil, and her etchings are among the best that the lady artists of our time have produced. Herdrawing is good, her observation is close and accurate, and she shows year by year an improvement in design. Miss Nichols was for several years the only lady fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers."
Her "Brancaster Staithe" and "Fir Trees, Crown Point," dry points, are in the Norwich Art Gallery, presented by Sir Seymour Haden, president of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers. Two of her works, a large oil painting of "Earlham" and a water-color of "Strangers' Hall," have been purchased by subscription and presented to the Norwich Castle Art Gallery.
Nicolau y Parody, Teresa.Member of the Academy of San Fernando and of the Academy of San Carlos of Valencia. This artist, who was born in Madrid, early showed an enthusiasm for painting, which she at first practised in various styles, but gradually devoted herself entirely to miniature. She has contributed to many public exhibitions, and has received many prizes and honorable mentions, as well as praise from the critics. Among her portraits are those of Isabel de Braganza, Washington, Mme. de Montespan, Mme. Dubarry, Queen Margaret of Austria, and Don Carlos, son of Philip II. Her other works include a "Magdalen in the Desert," "Laura and Petrarch," "Joseph with the Christ-Child," "Francis I. at the Battle of Pavia," and many good copies after celebrated painters.
Niederhäusen, Mlle. Sophie.Medal at the Swiss National Exposition, 1896. Member of the Exposition permanente de l'Athénée, Geneva. Born at Geneva.Pupil of Professor Wymann and M. Albert Gos, and of M. and Mme. Demont-Breton in France.
Mlle. Niederhäusen paints landscapes principally, and has taken her subjects from the environs of Geneva, in the Valais, and in Pas-de-Calais, France.
Her picture, called the "Bord du Lac de Genève," was purchased by the city and is in the Rath Museum. She also paints flowers, and uses water-colors as well as oils.
Nobili, Elena.Silver medal at the Beatrice Exposition, Florence, 1890. Born in Florence, where she resides. She is most successful in figure subjects. She is sympathetic in her treatment of them and is able to impart to her works a sentiment which appeals to the observer. Among her pictures are "Reietti," "The Good-Natured One," "September," "In the Country," "Music," and "Contrasts."
Normand, Mrs. Ernest—Henrietta Rae.Medals in Paris and at Chicago Exposition, 1893. Born in London, 1859. Daughter of T. B. Rae, Esquire. Married the artist, Ernest Normand, 1884. Pupil of Queen's Square School of Art, Heatherley's, British Museum, and Royal Academy Schools. Began the study of art at the age of thirteen. First exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880, and has sent important pictures there annually since that time.
Mrs. Normand executed decorative frescoes in the Royal Exchange, London, the subject being "Sir Richard Whittington and His Charities."
In the past ten years she has exhibited "Mariana," 1893; "Psyche at the Throne of Venus," 1894; "Apolloand Daphne," 1895; "Summer," 1896; "Isabella," 1897; "Diana and Calisto," 1899; "Portrait of Marquis of Dufferin and Ava," 1901; "Lady Winifred Renshaw and Son," and the "Sirens," 1903, which is a picture of three nude enchantresses, on a sandy shore, watching a distant galley among rocky islets.
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Nourse, Elizabeth.Medal at Chicago Exposition, 1903; Nashville Exposition, 1897; Carthage Institute, Tunis, 1897; elected associate of the Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1895; silver medal, Paris Exposition, 1900; elected Sociétaire des Beaux-Arts, 1901. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she began her studies, later going to the Julian Academy, under Boulanger and Lefebvre, and afterward studying with Carolus Duran and Henner. This artist idealizes the subjects of every-day, practical life, and gives them a poetic quality which is an uncommon and delightful attainment.
At the Salon des Beaux-Arts, 1902, Miss Nourse exhibited "The Children," "Evening Toilet of the Baby," "In the Shade at Pen'march," "Brother and Sister at Pen'march," "The Madeleine Chapel at Pen'march." In 1903, "Our Lady of Joy, Pen'march," "Around the Cradle," "The Little Sister," and "A Breton Interior."
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Oakley, Violet.Member of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Water-Color Club, Plastic Club, Philadelphia. Born in New Jersey, but has livedin New York, where she studied at the Art Students' League under Carroll Beckwith. Pupil of Collin and Aman-Jean in Paris and Charles Lasar in England; also in Philadelphia of Joseph de Camp, Henry Thouron, Cecilia Beaux, and Howard Pyle.
Miss Oakley has executed mural decorations, a mosaic reredos, and five stained-glass windows in the Church of All Saints, New York City, and a window in the Convent of the Holy Child, at Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.
In the summer of 1903 she was commissioned to decorate the walls of the Governor's reception room in the new Capitol at Harrisburg. Before engaging in this work—the first of its kind to be confided to an American woman—Miss Oakley went to Italy to study mural painting. She then went to England to thoroughly inform herself concerning the historical foundation of her subject, the history of the earliest days of Pennsylvania. At Oxford and in London she found what she required, and on her return to America established herself in a studio in Villa Nova, Pennsylvania, to make her designs for "The Romance of the Founding of the State," which is to be painted on a frieze five feet deep. The room is seventy by thirty feet, and sixteen feet in height.
The decoration of this Capitol is to be more elaborate and costly than that of any other public edifice in the United States. In mural decoration Miss Oakley will be associated with Edwin A. Abbey, but the Governor's room is to be her work entirely, and will doubtless occupy her during several years.
Mr Charles A. Caffin, in his article upon the exhibitionof the New York Water-Color Club, January, 1904, says: "Miss Oakley has had considerable experience in designing stained-glass windows, and has reproduced in some of her designs for book covers a corresponding treatment of the composition, with an attempt, not very logical or desirable, considering the differences between paint and glass, to reproduce also something of her window color schemes.... But for myself, her cover, in which some girls are picking flowers, is far more charming in its easy grace of composition, choice gravity of color, and spontaneity of feeling. Here is revealed a verynaïveimagination, free of any obsessions."
Occioni, Signora Lucilla Marzolo.Diploma of gold medal at the Women's Exhibition, Earl's Court, London, 1900. Born in Trieste. Pupil, in Rome, of Professor Giuseppe Ferrari.
This artist paints figure subjects, portraits, landscapes, and flowers, in both oils and water-colors, and also makes pen-drawings. Her works are in many private galleries. She gives me no list of subjects. Her pictures have been praised by critics.
O'Connell, Frederique Emilie Auguste Miethe.Born in Potsdam. 1823-1885. She passed her early life in her native city, having all the advantages of a solid and brilliant education. She early exhibited a love of drawing and devoted herself to the study of anatomical plates. She soon designed original subjects and introduced persons of her own imagination, which early marked her as powerful in her fancy and original in her manner of rendering her ideas.
A picture of "Raphael and the Fornarina," which she executed at the age of fifteen, was so satisfactory as to determine her fate, and she was allowed to study art.
When about eighteen years old she became the pupil of Charles Joseph Begas, a very celebrated artist of Berlin. Under his supervision she painted her first picture, called the "Day of the Dupes," which, though full of faults, had also virtues enough to secure much attention in the exhibition. It was first hung in a disadvantageous position, but the crowd discovered its merits and would have it noticed. She received a complimentary letter from the Academy of Berlin, and the venerable artist Cornelius made her a visit of congratulation.
About 1844 she married and removed to Brussels. Here she came into an entirely new atmosphere and her manner of painting was changed. She sought to free herself from all outer influence and to express her own feeling. She studied color especially, and became an imitator of Rubens. She gained in Brussels all the medals of the Belgian expositions, and there began two historical pictures, "Peter the Great and Catherine" and "Maria Theresa and Frederick the Great." These were not finished until after her removal to Paris in 1853. They were bought by Prince Demidoff for the Russian Government.
She obtained her first triumph in Paris, at the Salon of 1853, by a portrait of Rachel. She represented the famous actress dressed entirely in white, with the worn expression which her professional exertions and the fatal malady from which she was already suffering had given to her remarkable face. The critics had no words for this portrait which were not words of praise, and two years later, in 1855, Madame O'Connell reached the height of her talent. "A Faunesse," as it was called, in the exposition of that year, was a remarkable work, and thus described by Barty:
"A strong and beautiful young woman was seated near a spring, where beneath the shade of the chestnut trees the water lilies spread themselves out upon the stream which flowed forth. She was nude and her flesh palpitated beneath the caresses of the sun. With feminine caprice she wore a bracelet of pearls of the style of the gold workers of the Renaissance. Her black hair had lights of golden brown upon it, and she opened her great brown eyes with an expression of indifference. A half smile played upon her rosy lips and lessened the oval of the face like that of the 'Dancing Faun.' The whole effect of the lines of the figure was bold and gave an appearance of youth, the extremities were studiously finished, the skin was fine, and the whole tournure elegant. It was a Faunesse of Fontainebleau of the time of the Valois."
Mme. O'Connell then executed several fine portraits—two of Rachel, one of M. O'Connell, others of Charles Edward and Théophile Gautier, which were likened to works of Vandyck, and a portrait in crayon of herself which was achef-d'oeuvre. She excelled in rendering passionate natures; she found in her palette the secret of that pallor which spreads itself over the faces of those devoted to study—the fatigues of days and nights without sleep; she knew how to kindle the feverish light in theeyes of poets and of the women of society. She worked with great freedom, used a thick pâte in which she brushed freely and left the ridges thus made in the colors; then, later, she put over a glaze, and all was done. Her etchings were also executed with great freedom, and many parts, especially the hair, were remarkably fine. She finished numerous etchings, among which a "St. Magdalen in the Desert" and a "Charity Surrounded by Children" are worthy of particular notice.
After Madame O'Connell removed to Paris she opened a large atelier and received many pupils. It was a most attractive place, with gorgeous pieces of antique furniture, loaded with models of sculpture, books, albums, engravings, and so on, while draperies, tapestries, armor, and ornaments in copper and brass all lent their colors and effects to enhance the attractions of the place. Many persons of rank and genius were among the friends of the artist and she was much in society.
In spite of all her talent and all her success the end of Madame O'Connell's life was sad beyond expression. Her health suffered, her reason tottered and faded out, yet life remained and she was for years in an asylum for the insane. Everything that had surrounded her in her Paris home was sold at auction. No time was given and no attempt was made to bring her friends together. No one who had known or loved her was there to shed a tear or to bear away a memento of her happy past. All the beautiful things of which we have spoken were sacrificed and scattered as unconscionably as if she had never loved or her friends enjoyed them.
In the busy world of Paris no one remembered the brilliant woman who had flashed upon them, gained her place among them, and then disappeared. They recalled neither her genius nor her womanly qualities which they had admired, appreciated, and so soon forgotten!
Oosterwyck, Maria van.The seventeenth century is remarkable for the perfection attained in still-life and flower painting. The most famous masters in this art were William van Aelst of Delft, the brothers De Heem of Utrecht, William Kalf and the Van Huysums of Amsterdam. The last of this name, however, Jan van Huysum, belongs to the next century.
Maria van Oosterwyck and Rachel Ruysch disputed honors with the above named and are still famous for their talents.
The former was a daughter of a preacher of the reformed religion. She was born at Nootdorp, near Delft, in 1630. She was the pupil of Jan David de Heem, and her pictures were remarkable for accuracy in drawing, fine coloring, and an admirable finish.
Louis XIV. of France, William III. of England, the Emperor Leopold of Germany, and Augustus I. of Poland gave her commissions for pictures. Large prices were paid her in a most deferential manner, as if the tributes of friendship rather than the reward of labor, and to these generous sums were added gifts of jewels and other precious objects.
Of Maria van Oosterwyck Kugler writes: "In my opinion she does not occupy that place in the history of the art of this period that she deserves, which may be partlyowing to the rarity of her pictures, especially in public galleries. For although her flower pieces are weak in arrangement and often gaudy in the combination of color, she yet represents her flowers with the utmost truth of drawing, and with a depth, brilliancy, and juiciness of local coloringunattained by any other flower painter"
A picture in the Vienna Gallery of a sunflower with tulips and poppies, in glowing color, is probably her best work in a public collection. Her pictures are also in the galleries of Dresden, Florence, Carlsruhe, Copenhagen, the Schwerin Gallery, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
There is a romantic story told of Maria van Oosterwyck, as follows. William van Aelst, the painter of exquisite pictures of still-life, fruits, glass, and objects in gold and silver, was a suitor for her hand. She did not love him, but wishing not to be too abrupt in her refusal, she required, as a condition of his acceptance, that he should work ten hours a day during a year. This he readily promised to do. His studio being opposite that of Maria, she watched narrowly for the days when he did not work and marked them down on her window-sash. At the close of the year Van Aelst claimed her as his bride, assuming that he had fulfilled her condition; but she pointed to the record of his delinquencies, and he could but accept her crafty dismissal of his suit.