Chapter 18 of 29 · 3995 words · ~20 min read

Part 18

This artist has exhibited at the Academy, at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colors, and other exhibitions. Her pictures have frequently been sold from the exhibitions and reproduced. Among these are "Sympathy," sold as first prize in Derby Art Union; "Diverse Attractions"; "Interesting Discoveries"; "Coming," sold from the Royal Academy; "Gossips"; "The Wedding Gown," etc.

Miss Manly has done much work for publishers, which has been reproduced in colors and in black and white. She usually combines figures and landscape.

MANTOVANI, SIGNORA S. ROME.

[_No reply to circular_.]

MARAINI, ADELAIDE. Gold medal in Florence, at Beatrice Exposition, 1903. Born in 1843. This sculptor resides in Rome, where her works have been made. An early example of her art, "Camilla," while it gave proof of her artistic temperament, was unimportant; but her later works, as they have followed each other, have constantly gained in excellence, and have won her an enviable reputation. Among her statues are "Amleto," "The Sulamite Woman," and "Sappho." The last was enthusiastically received in Paris in 1878, and is the work which gained the prize at Florence, where it was said to be the gem of the exhibition. She has also executed a monument to Attilio Lemmi, which represents "Youth Weeping over the Tomb of the Dead," and is in the Protestant Cemetery at Florence; a bas-relief, the "Angels of Prayer and of the Resurrection"; a group, "Romeo and Juliet"; and portraits of Carlo Cattanei, Giuseppe Civinini, Signora Allievi, Senator Musio, the traveller De Albertis, and Victor Emmanuel.

MARCELLE, ADÈLE, Duchess of Castiglione-Colonna, family name d'Affry. Born at Fribourg, Switzerland, 1837, and died at Castellamare, 1879. Her early manner was that of the later Cinquecento, but she afterward adopted a rather bombastic and theatrical style. Her only statue, a Pythia, in bronze was placed in the Grand Opera at Paris (1870). In the Luxembourg Museum are marble busts of Bianca Capello (1863) and an "Abyssinian Sheikh" (1870). A "Gorgon" (1865), a "Saviour" (1875), "La Bella Romana" (1875) are among her other works. She left her art treasures, valued at about fifty thousand francs, to the Cantonal Museum at Fribourg, where they occupy a separate room, called the Marcello Museum.

MARCOVIGI, CLEMENTINA. Born in Bologna, where she resides. Flower pieces exhibited by her at Turin in 1884 and at Venice in 1887 were commended for perfection of design and charm of color.

MARIA FEODOROVNA, wife of the Czar Peter I. As Princess Dorothea Auguste Sophie of Würtemberg she was born at Trepton in 1759, and died at Petersburg in 1858. She studied under Leberecht, and engraved medals and cameos, many of which are portraits of members of the royal family and are in the royal collection at Petersburg. She was elected to the Berlin Academy in 1820.

MARIANI, VIRGINIA. Honorary member of the Umbrian Academy and of the Academy of the Virtuosi of the Pantheon. Born in Rome, 1824, where she has met with much success in decorating pottery, as well as in oil and water-color paintings. The Provincial Exposition at Perugia in 1875 displayed her "Mezze Figure," which was highly commended. She has decorated cornices, with flowers in relief, as well as some vases that are very beautiful. Besides teaching in several institutions and receiving private pupils, she has been an inspector, in her own department of art, of the municipal schools of Rome.

MARIE, DUCHESS OF WÜRTEMBERG. Daughter of Louis Philippe, and wife of Duke Frederick William Alexander of Würtemberg. Born at Palermo, 1813, and died at Pisa, 1839. She studied drawing with Ary Scheffer. Her statue of "Jeanne d'Arc" is at Versailles; in the Ferdinand Chapel, in the Bois de Boulogne, is the "Peri as a Praying Angel"; in the Saturnin Chapel at Fontainebleau is a stained-glass window with her design of "St. Amalia." Among her other works are "The Dying Bayard," a relief representing the legend of the Wandering Jew, and a bust of the Belgian Queen. Many of her drawings are in possession of her family. She also executed some lithographs, such as "Souvenirs of 1812," 1831, etc.

MARIE LOUISE, EMPRESS OF FRANCE. 1791-1846. She studied under Prud'hon. Her "Girl with a Dove" is in the Museum of Besançon.

MARLEF, CLAUDE. Bronze medal at Paris Exposition, 1900. Associate of the French National Society of Fine Arts (Beaux-Arts). Born at Nantes. Pupil of A. Roll, Benjamin Constant, Puvis de Chavannes, and Dagnaux.

Mme. Marlef is a portrait painter. Her picture, "Manette Salomon," is in the Hotel de Ville, Paris; the "Nymphe Accroupie" is in the Municipal Museum of Nantes. Among her portraits of well-known women are those of Jane Hading, Elsie de Wolfe, Bessie Abbott of the Opera, Rachel Boyer of the Theatre Français, Marguerite Durand, Editeur de la Fronde, Mlle. Richepin, and many others.

Mme. Marlef has the power of keen observation, so necessary to a painter of portraits. Although there is a certain element of soft tenderness in her pictures, the bold virility of her drawing misled the critics, who for a time believed that her name was used to conceal the personality of a man. A critic in the Paris _World_ writes of this artist: "She has exquisite color sense and delights in presenting that _exaltation de la vie_, that love, radiance, and joy of life, which are at once the secret of the success and the keynote of the masterful canvases of Roll, in whose studio were first developed Claude Marlef's delicate qualities of truthful perception in the portraiture of woman.... Her perceptions being rapid, she has a remarkable instantaneous insight, enabling her to fix the dominant feature and soul of expression in each of the various types among her numerous sitters."

Mme. Marlef's family name is Lefebure. Her husband died in 1891, the year after their marriage, and she then devoted herself to the serious study of painting, which she had practised from childhood. She first exhibited at the Salon, 1895, and has exhibited annually since then. In 1902 she sent her own portrait, and in 1903 that of Bessie Abbott, to the Exhibition of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

MARTIN DE CAMPO, VICTORIA. Member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Cadiz, her native city. In the different expositions of this and other Andalusian capitals she has exhibited since 1840 many works, including portraits, genre, historical pictures, and copies. Among them may be mentioned "Susanna in the Bath," "David Playing the Harp before Saul," a "Magdalen," a "Cupid," a "Boy with a Linnet," and a "Nativity." Some of these were awarded prizes. In the Chapel of Relics in the new Cathedral at Cadiz are her "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" and a "Mater Dolorosa."

MARTINEAU, EDITH. Associate of Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colors; member of the Hampstead Art Society. Born in Liverpool, where she made her first studies in the School of Art, and later became a pupil of the Royal Academy Schools, London.

Her pictures are not large and are principally figures or figures in landscape, and all in water-colors. She writes very modestly that so many are sold and in private hands that she will give no list of subjects.

MASSARI, LUIGIA. Medal at Piacenza, 1869, and several other medals from art societies. Born at Piacenza, 1810. Pupil of A. Gemmi. Her works are in a number of churches: "St. Martin" in the church at Altoé; "St. Philomena" in the church at Busseto; the "Madonna del Carmine" and "St. Anna" in the church at Monticelli d'Ongina. This artist was also famous for her beautiful embroidery, as seen in her altar-cloths, one of which is in the Guastafredda Chapel at Piacenza. The fruits and flowers produced by her needle are marvellously like those in her pictures.

MASSEY, MRS. GERTRUDE. Member of the Society of Miniaturists. Born in London, 1868. Has studied with private teachers in London and Paris.

This painter has made a specialty of miniatures and of pictures of dogs. She has been extensively employed by various members of the royal family, of whom she painted eleven miniatures, among which was one of the late Queen.

She sends me a list of several pictures of dogs and "Pets," all belonging to titled English ladies; also a long list of miniatures of gentlemen, ladies, and children of high degree, several being of the royal family, in addition, I suppose, to the eleven mentioned above.

She writes me: "Constantly met King and Queen and other members. Sittings took place at Windsor Castle, Sandringham, Marlborough House, Osborne, and Balmoral. One dog died after first sitting; had to finish from dead dog. Live in charming little cottage with _genuine_ old-fashioned garden in St. John's Wood."

Mrs. Massey has exhibited at the Royal Academy and New Gallery, and has held a special exhibition of her pictures of dogs at the Fine Art Society, New Bond Street, London.

MASSIP, MARGUERITE. Member of the Society of Swiss Painters and Sculptors and of the Society of Arts and Letters, Geneva. Born at Geneva. Made her studies in Florence and Paris under the professors in the public schools. Her picture of "Le Buveur" is in the Museum of Geneva; "Five o'Clock Tea," also in a Geneva Museum; "La Bohemienne" is at Nice; "The Engagement"--a dancer--at St. Gall, and a large number of portraits in various cities, belonging to their subjects and their families.

Her portrait of Mme. M. L. was very much praised when exhibited in proximity with the works of some of the famous French artists. One critic writes: "The painting is firm and brilliant. The hands are especially beautiful; we scarcely know to whom we can compare Mme. Massip, unless to M. Paul Dubois. They have the same love of art, the same soberness of tone, the same scorn of artifice.... The woman who has signed such a portrait is a great artist." It is well known that the famous sculptor is a remarkable portraitist.

In a review of the Salon at Nice we read: "A portrait by Mme. Massip is a magnificent canvas, without a single stroke of the charlatan. The pose is simple and dignified; there is the serenity and repose of a woman no longer young, who makes no pretension to preserve her vanishing beauty; the costume, in black, is so managed that it would not appear superannuated nor ridiculous at any period. The execution is that of a great talent and an artistic conscience. It is not a portrait for a bedchamber, still less for a studio; it is a noble souvenir for a family, and should have a place in the salon, in which, around the hearth, three generations may gather, and in this serene picture may see the wife, the mother, and the grandmother, when they mourn the loss of her absolute presence."

MASSOLIEN, ANNA. Born at Görlitz, 1848. A pupil of G. Gräf and of the School of Women Artists in Berlin. Her portraits of Field Marshal von Steinmetz, Brückner, and G. Schmidt by their excellence assured the reputation of this artist, whose later portraits are greatly admired.

MATHILDE, PRINCESS. Medal at Paris Salon, 1865. Daughter of King Jerome Bonaparte. Born at Trieste, 1820; died at Paris, 1904. Pupil of Eugene Giraud. She painted genre subjects in water-colors. Her medal picture, "Head of a Young Girl," is in the Luxembourg; "A Jewess of Algiers," 1866, is in the Museum of Lille; "The Intrigue under the Portico of the Doge's Palace" was painted in 1865.

MATHILDE CAROLINE, Grand Duchess of Hesse. Was born Princess of Bavaria. 1813-1863. Pupil of Dominik Onaglio. In the New Gallery at Munich are two of her pictures--"View of the Magdalen Chapel in the Garden at Nymphenburg," 1832, and "Outlook on the Islands, Procida and Ischia," 1836.

MATTON, IDA. Two grand prizes and a purse, also a travelling purse from the Government of Sweden; honorable mention at the Paris Salon, 1896; honorable mention, Paris Exposition, 1900; prize for sculpture at the Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs, 1903. Decorated with the "palmes académique" of President Loubet, 1903. Member of the Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs, Paris. Born at Gefle, Sweden. Pupil of the Technical School, Stockholm, and of H. Chapu, A. Mercie, and D. Puech at Paris.

[Illustration: In Cemetery In Gefle, Sweden

MONUMENT FOR A TOMB

IDA MATTON]

Among the works of this artist are "Mama!" a statue in marble; "Loké," a statue; "Dans les Vagues," a marble bust; "Funeral Monument," in bronze, in Gefle, Sweden; and a great number of portrait busts and various subjects in bas-relief.

At the Salon des Artistes Français, 1902, she exhibited four portraits, and in 1903, "Confidence."

MAURY, CORNELIA F. Member of St. Louis Artists' Guild and Society of Western Artists. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Pupil of St. Louis School of Fine Arts and of Julian Academy, under Collin and Merson. At the Salon of 1900 her picture, "Mother and Child," was hung on the line.

Miss Maury has made an especial study of child life. Among her pictures are "Little Sister," "Choir Boy," "Late Breakfast," and "First Steps." The latter picture and the "Baby in a Go-Cart" have been published in the Copley Prints.

"Cornelia F. Maury is most successful in portrayals of childhood. Her small figures are simple, unaffected, with no suggestion of pose. They convey that delightful feeling of unconsciousness in the subject that is always so charming either in nature or in artistic expression. The pastel depicting the flaxen-haired child in blue dress drawing a tiny cart is exceedingly artistic, and the same may be said of a pastel showing a small child in a Dutch high-chair near a window. A third picture--also a pastel--represents a choir-boy in a red robe, red cap, and white surplice, sitting in a high-backed, carved chair, holding a book in his hand. Miss Maury really has produced nothing finer than this last. It is a most excellent work."--_The Mirror, St. Louis,_ April 10, 1902.

MAYREDER-OBERMAYER, ROSE. Born in Vienna, 1858. Pupil of Darnaut and Charmont. The works of this successful painter of flowers and still-life have been exhibited in Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, and Chicago. She has a broad, sure touch quite unusual in water-colors. She has also executed some notable decorative works, one of which, "November," has attracted much attention.

MCCROSSAN, MARY. Silver and bronze medals, Liverpool; silver medal and honorable mention, Paris. Has exhibited at Royal Academy, London, at Royal Institute of Oil Colors, and many other English and Scotch exhibitions. Member of Liverpool Academy of Arts and of the Liverpool Sketching Club. Born in Liverpool. Studied at Liverpool School of Art under John Finnie; Paris, under M. Delécluse; St. Ives, Cornwall, under Julius Ollson.

The principal works of this artist are marine subjects and landscapes, and are mostly in private collections.

In the _Studio,_ November, 1900, we read: "Miss McCrossan's exhibition of pictures and sketches displayed a pleasant variety of really clever work, mostly in oils, with a few water-colors and pastels. In each medium her color is strong, rich, and luminous, and her drawing vigorous and certain.

"While this artist's landscape subjects are intelligently selected and attractively rendered, there is unusual merit in her marine pictures, composed mainly from the fisher-craft of the Isle of Man and the neighborhood of St. Ives, and recording effects of brilliant sunshine lighting up white herring boats lying idly on intensely reflective blue sea, or aground on the harbor mud at low tide. There is a fascination in the choice color treatment of these characteristic pictures."

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." De Luxe 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 on Japan vellum. London, 1902.

"The Coronation Prayer-Book." (Wood-cut borders.) Oxford University Press, 1902.

"Cathedrals of Northern France." In collaboration with Francis Miltoun. Boston and London, 1903.

"Cathedrals of Southern France." In collaboration with Francis Miltoun. 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.

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.

[Illustration: 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 it was 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 her etching 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's _Quarterly_ says 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 miniatures of 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: