Chapter 24 of 29 · 3993 words · ~20 min read

Part 24

"Returning from the Fair" shows a group of Alderney cattle in a road curving through a forest. At the time of its exhibition an art critic wrote: "The eye of the spectator is struck with the rich mass of foliage, passing from the light green of the birches in the foreground, where the light breaks through, to the dark green of the dense forest, shading into the brownish tints of the early September-tinged leaves. Farther on, the eye is carried back through a beautiful vista formed by the road leading through the centre of the picture, giving a fine perspective and distance through a leafy archway of elms and other forest trees that gracefully mingle their branches overhead, through which one catches a glimpse of deep blue sky. As the eye follows this roadway to its distant part the sun lights up the sky, tingeing with a mellow light the group of small trees and willows, contrasting beautifully with the almost sombre tones of the dense forest in the middle distance."

SHRIMPTON, ADA M. Has exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Water-Colors, British Artists, and principal provincial galleries in England and in Australia; also at the Paris Salon. Member of Society of Women Artists, London. Born in Old Alresford, Hampshire. Pupil of John Sparkes at South Kensington, and of Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant in Paris.

This artist has painted principally figure subjects, among which are "Cedric's Daughter," "Thoughts of Youth are Long Thoughts," "Dream of the Past," "Pippa Passes," "Dorothy's Bridesmaid's Dress," etc., etc. Recently she has devoted herself to portraits of ladies and children, in both oil and water-colors.

SIRANI, ELISABETTA. Has been praised as a woman and as an artist by Lanzi, Malvasia, Picinardi, and other writers until one must believe that in spite of the exaggeration of her personal qualities and her artistic genius, she was a singularly admirable woman and a gifted artist.

She was born in Bologna about 1640, and, like Artemisia Gentileschi, was the daughter of a painter of the school of Guido Reni, whose follower Elisabetta also became. From the study of her master she seems to have acquired the power to perceive and reproduce the greatest possible beauty with which her subjects could be invested.

She worked with such rapidity that she was accused of profiting by her father's assistance, and in order to refute this accusation it was arranged that the Duchess of Brunswick, the Duchess of Mirandola, Duke Cosimo, and others should meet in her studio, on which occasion Elisabetta charmed and astonished her guests by the ease and perfection with which she sketched in and shaded drawings of the subjects which one person after another suggested to her.

Her large picture of the "Baptism of Christ" was completed when the artist was but twenty years old. Malvasia gives a list of one hundred and twenty pictures executed by Elisabetta, and yet she was but twenty-five when her mysterious death occurred.

In the Pinacoteca of Bologna is the "St. Anthony Adoring the Virgin and Infant Jesus," by the Sirani, which is much admired; several other works of hers are in her native city. "The Death of Abel" is in the Gallery of Turin; the "Charity," in the Sciarra Palace in Rome; "Cupids" and a picture of "Martha and Mary," in the Vienna Gallery; an "Infant Jesus" and a picture called "A Subject after Guido" are in the Hermitage at Petersburg.

Her composition was graceful and refined, her drawing good, her color fresh and sweet, with a resemblance to Guido Reni in the half tones. She was especially happy in the heads of the Madonna and the Magdalene, imparting to them an expression of exalted tenderness.

Her paintings on copper and her etchings were most attractive; indeed, all her works revealed the innate grace and refinement of her nature.

Aside from her art the Sirani was a most interesting woman. She was very beautiful in person, and the sweetness of her temper made her a favorite with her friends, while her charming voice and fine musical talent added to her many attractions. Her admirers have also commended her taste in dress, which was very simple, and have even praised her moderation in eating! She was skilled in domestic matters and accustomed to rise at dawn to attend to her household affairs, not permitting her art to interfere with the more homely duties of her life. One writer says that "her devoted filial affection, her feminine grace, and the artless benignity of her manners rounded out a character regarded as an ideal of perfection by her friends."

It may be that her tragic fate caused an exaggerated estimate to be made of her both as a woman and an artist. The actual cause of her death is unknown. There have been many theories concerning it. It was very generally believed that she was poisoned, although neither the reason for the crime nor the name of its perpetrator was known.

By some she was believed to have been sacrificed to the same professional jealousy that destroyed Domenichino; others accepted the theory that a princely lover who had made unworthy proposals to her, which she had scorned, had revenged himself by her murder. At length a servant, Lucia Tolomelli, who had been a long time in the Sirani family, was suspected of having poisoned her young mistress, was arrested, tried, and banished. But after a time the father of Elisabetta, finding no convincing reason to believe her guilty, obtained her pardon.

Whatever may have been the cause of the artist's death, the effect upon her native city was overwhelming and the day of her burial was one of general mourning, the ceremony being attended with great pomp. She was buried beside Guido Reni, in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary, in the magnificent Church of the Dominicans.

Poets and orators vied with each other in sounding her praises, and a

## book called "Il Penello Lagrimato," published at Bologna soon after her

death, is a collection of orations, sonnets, odes, epitaphs, and anagrams, in Latin and Italian, setting forth the love which her native city bore to this beautiful woman, and rehearsing again and again her charms and her virtues.

In the Ercolani Gallery there is a picture of Elisabetta painting a portrait of her father. It is said that she also painted a portrait of herself looking up with a spiritual expression, which is in a private collection and seen by few people.

SMITH, JESSIE WILLCOX. Mary Smith prize, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1903. Member of the Plastic Club and a fellow of the Academy, Philadelphia. Born in Philadelphia, where she was a pupil of the Academy; also studied under Thomas Eakins, Thomas P. Anschutz, and Howard Pyle.

Miss Smith is essentially an illustrator and her work is seen in all the leading American magazines. "The Child's Calendar" is the work of this artist.

SONREL, MLLE. E. Honorable mention, Paris, 1893; third-class medal, 1895; bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1900. At the Salon des Artistes Français, 1902, she exhibited "Sybille" and "Monica"; in 1903, "The Dance of Terpsichore" and "Princesse Lointaine."

[_No reply to circular_.]

SPANÒ, MARIA. Silver medal, Naples, 1859, for a picture of a "Contadina of Sorrento." Born in Naples, 1843. Pupil of her father, Raffaele Spanò, under whose direction she made a thorough study of figure painting, the results of which are evident in her excellent portraits and historical subjects. She has also been greatly interested in landscape painting, in which she has been successful. "A Confidence" was bought by the Gallery at Capodimonte, and two of her pictures were acquired by the Provincial Council of Naples--a "Contadina," life size, and a "Country Farmyard." One of her best pictures is "Bice at the Castle of Rosate."

SPILIMBERG, IRENE DI. Born in Udina, 1540. Her family was of German origin and exalted position. She was educated in Venice with great care and all the advantages that wealth could command. She was much in the society of learned men, which she preferred before that of the world of fashion.

Titian was her roaster in painting. Lanzi and Rudolfi praised her as an artist, and her fame now rests on the testimony of those who saw her works rather than on the pictures themselves, some of which are said to be in private collections in Italy. Titian painted her portrait as a tribute to her beauty; Tasso celebrated her intellectual charm in a sonnet, and yet she was but nineteen years old when she died.

Twenty years later a collection of orations and poems was published, all of which set forth her attractions and acquirements, and emphasized the sadness of her early death and the loss that the world had suffered thereby. When one remembers how soon after death those who have done a life work are forgotten, such a memorial to one so young is worthy of note.

SPURR, GERTRUDE E. Associate member of Royal Canadian Academy and member of the Ontario Society of Arts. Born in Scarborough, England. Pupil of the Lambeth Art School in drawing, of E. H. Holder in painting, in England; also of George B. Bridgman in New York. This artist usually paints small pictures of rural scenery in England and Wales--little stone cottages, bridges, river and mountain scenes. "Castle Rock, North Devon," was exhibited at Buffalo, and is owned by Herbert Mason, Esq., of Toronto. "A Peep at Snowdon" and "Dutch Farm Door, Ontario," are in Montreal collections. Her works have been exhibited in London at the Royal Society of British Artists and the Society of Lady Artists, and have been sold from these exhibitions.

I quote from the _Queen_, in reference to one of Miss Spurr's London exhibitions: "We know of no more favorite sketching-ground in N. Wales for the artist than Bettws-y-coed. Every yard of that most picturesque district has been painted and sketched over and over again. The artist in this instance reproduces some of the very primitive cottages in which the natives of the principality sojourn. The play of light on the modest dwelling-places is an effective element in the cleverly rendered drawing now in the Society of Artists' Exhibition. Miss Spurr, the daughter of a Scarboro lawyer, commenced her art studies with Mr. E. H. Holder, in the winter painting dead birds, fruit, and other natural objects, and in summer spending her time on the coast or in the woods or about Rievaulx Abbey. Any remaining time to be filled up was occupied by attending the Scarboro School of Art under the instruction of Mr. Strange. In a local sketching club Miss Spurr distinguished herself and gained several prizes, and she has at length taken up her abode in the metropolis, where she has attended the Lambeth Schools, studying diligently both from casts and life."

STACEY, ANNA L. Honorable mention at Exhibition of Chicago Artists, 1900; Young Fortnightly Club prize, 1902; Martin B. Cahn prize, Exhibition at Art Institute, Chicago, 1902. Member of Chicago Society of Artists. Born in Glasgow, Missouri.

Pupil of Art Institute in Chicago. Paints portraits, figure subjects, and landscapes. The Cahn prize was awarded to the "Village at Twilight." "Florence" is owned by the Klio Club; "Trophies of the Fields," by the Union League Club, Chicago.

Recently Miss Stacey has painted a number of successful portraits.

STADING, EVELINA. Born in Stockholm. 1803-1829. She was a pupil of Fahlcrantz for a time in her native city, and then went to Dresden, where she made a thorough study and some excellent copies of the works of Ruisdael. In 1827 she went to Rome, making studies in Volzburg and the Tyrol _en route_. She painted views in Switzerland and Italy, and two of her landscapes are in the gallery in Christiania.

STANLEY, LADY DOROTHY. Member of the Ladies' Athenaeum Club. Born in London. Pupil of Sir Edward Poynter--then Mr. Poynter--and of M. Legros, at Slade School, University College, London; also of Carolus Duran and Henner in Paris.

Lady Stanley has exhibited at the Royal Academy, the new Gallery, at the English provincial exhibitions, and at the Salon, Paris.

Her picture, "His First Offence," is in the Tate National Gallery; "Leap Frog," in the National Gallery of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. Other pictures of hers are "A Water Nymph," "The Bathers," etc., which are in private galleries. "Leap Frog" was in the Academy exhibition, 1903.

STEBBINS, EMMA. 1815-1882. Born in New York. As an amateur artist Miss Stebbins made a mark by her work in black and white and her pictures in oils. After a time she decided to devote herself to sculpture. In Rome she studied this art and made her first success with a statuette of "Joseph." This was followed by "Columbus" and "Satan Descending to tempt Mankind." For Central Park, New York, she executed a large fountain, the subject being "The Angel of the Waters."

STEPHENS, MRS. ALICE BARBER. Mary Smith prize, 1890. Pupil of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and of the Julian Academy, Paris. An illustrator whose favorite subjects are those of every-day home life--the baby, the little child, the grandmother in cap and spectacles, etc.

[_No reply to circular_.]

STEVENS, EDITH BARRETTO. Two scholarships and a prize of one hundred dollars from the Art Students' League, of which she is a member. Born in Houston, Virginia, in 1878. Studied at Art Students' League and under Daniel C. French and George Gray Barnard.

Miss Stevens mentions as her principal works "A Candlestick Representing a Girl Asleep under a Poppy," "Figure of Spring," and the "Spirit of Flame."

Miss Stevens is one of the women sculptors who have been selected to share in the decoration of the buildings for the St. Louis Exposition. She is to make two reclining figures on the pediment over the main entrance to the Liberal Arts Building. She has in her studio two reclining figures which will probably serve to fulfil this commission.

Miss Stevens is modest about her work and does not care to talk much about this important commission, even suggesting that her design may not be accepted; if she is successful it will certainly be an unusual honor for a woman at her age, whose artistic career covers less than five years.

STEVENS, MARY. Bronze medal at the Crystal Palace. Member of the Dudley Gallery, London. Born at Liverpool. Pupil of William Kerry and of her husband, Albert Stevens, in England, and of the Julian Academy, Paris.

Mrs. Stevens' pictures were well considered when she exhibited a variety of subjects; of late, however, she has made a specialty of pictures of gardens, and has painted in many famous English and French gardens, among others, those of Holland House, Warwick Castle, and St. Anne's, Dublin. In France, the gardens of the Duchesse de Dino and the Countess Foucher de Careil.

Mrs. Stevens--several of whose works are owned in America--has commissions to paint in some American gardens and intends to execute them in 1904.

STILLMAN, MARIE SPARTALI. Pupil of Ford Madox Brown. This artist first exhibited in public at the Dudley Gallery, London, in 1867, a picture called "Lady Pray's Desire." In 1870 she exhibited at the Royal Academy, "Saint Barbara" and "The Mystic Tryst." In 1873 she exhibited "The Finding of Sir Lancelot Disguised as a Fool" and "Sir Tristram and La Belle Isolde," both in water-colors. Of these, a writer in the _Art Journal_ said: "Mrs. Stillman has brought imagination to her work. These vistas of garden landscape are conceived in the true spirit of romantic luxuriance, when the beauty of each separate flower was a delight. The figures, too, have a grace that belongs properly to art, and which has been well fitted to pictorial expression. The least satisfactory part of these clever drawings is their color. There is an evident feeling of harmony, but the effect is confused and the prevailing tones are uncomfortably warm."

W. M. Rossetti wrote: "Miss Spartali has a fine power of fusing the emotion of her subject into its color and of giving aspiration to both; beyond what is actually achieved one sees a reaching toward something ulterior. As one pauses before her work, a film in that or in the mind lifts or seems meant to lift, and a subtler essence from within the picture quickens the sense. In short, Miss Spartali, having a keen perception of the poetry which resides in beauty and in the means of art for embodying beauty, succeeds in infusing that perception into the spectator of her handiwork."

[_No reply to circular_.]

STOCKS, MINNA. Born in Scheverin, 1846. Pupil of Schloepke in Scheverin, Stiffeck in Berlin, E. Bosch in Düsseldorf, and J. Bauck in Munich. Her "Lake of Scheverin" is in the Museum of her native city.

Her artistic reputation rests largely on her pictures of animals. She exhibits at the Expositions of the Society of Women Artists, Berlin, and among her pictures seen there is "A Journey through Africa," which represents kittens playing with a map of that country. It was attractive and was praised for its artistic merit. In fact, her puppies and kittens are most excellent results--have been called masterpieces--of the most intimate and intelligent study of nature.

Among her works are "A Quartet of Cats," "The Hostile Brothers," and "The Outcast."

STOKES, MARIANNA. Honorable mention at Paris Salon, 1884; gold medal in Munich, 1890; medal at Chicago in 1893. Member of the Society of Painters in Tempera. Born in Graz-Styria. Pupil of Professor W. von Lindenschmit in Munich, of M. Dagnan Bouveret and M. Courtois in Paris.

Her picture, "A Parting," is in the Liverpool Gallery; "Childhood's Wonder," in the Nottingham Gallery; "Aucassin and Nicolette," in the Pittsburg Gallery, etc.

Mrs. Stokes writes me that she has taken great interest in the revival of tempera painting in recent years. In reviewing the exhibition in the New Gallery, London, the _Spectator_ of May 2, 1903, speaks of the portraits by Mrs. Stokes as charming, and adds: "They are influenced by the primitive painters, but in the right way. That is, the painter has used a formal and unrealistic style, but without any sacrifice of artistic freedom." Of a portrait of a child the same writer says: "It would be difficult to imagine a happier portrait of a little child,... and in it may be seen how the artist has used her freedom; for although she has preserved a primitive simplicity, the sky, sea, and windmill have modern qualities of atmosphere. The picture is very subtle in drawing and color, and the sympathy for child-life is perfect, seen as it is both in the hands and in the eyes.

"Another portrait by the same artist is hung on a marble pillar at the top of the stairs leading up to the balcony. The admirable qualities of decoration are well shown by the way it is hung.... Is a fine piece of strong and satisfactory color, but the decorative aspect in no way takes precedence of the portraiture. We think of the man first and the picture afterward."

At the Academy, in 1903, Mrs. Stokes exhibited a portrait of J. Westlake, Esq., K.C.

STORER, MRS. MARIA LONGWORTH. Gold medal at Paris Exposition, 1900. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Pupil of the Cincinnati Art School, which her father, Joseph Longworth, endowed with three hundred thousand dollars.

After working four years, making experiments in clay decoration at the Dallas White Ware Pottery, Mrs. Storer, "who had the enthusiasm of the artistic temperament coupled with fixity of purpose and financial resources,... had the courage to open a Pottery which she called Rookwood, the name of her father's place on the hills beyond. This was in 1880."

Nine years later this pottery had become self-supporting, and Mrs. Storer then dissolved her personal association with it, leaving it in charge of Mr. William Watts Taylor, who had collaborated with her during six years.

At the Paris Exposition Mrs. Storer exhibited about twenty pieces of pottery mounted in bronze--all her own work. It was an exquisite exhibition, and I was proud that it was the work of one of my countrywomen.

In 1897 Mr. Storer was appointed United States minister to Belgium, and Mrs. Storer took a Japanese artist, Asano, to Brussels, to instruct her in bronze work. Two years later Mr. Storer's mission was changed to Spain, and there Mrs. Storer continued, under Asano's guidance, her work in bronze, some of the results being seen in the mounting of her pottery.

At present Mr. Storer is our Ambassador to Austria, and Mrs. Storer writes me that she hopes to continue her work in bronze in Vienna.

In the summer of 1903 Mrs. Storer was in Colorado Springs, where she was much interested in the pottery made by Mr. Van Briggle. She became one of the directors of the Van Briggle Pottery Company, and encouraged the undertaking most heartily.

STUMM, MAUD. Born in Cleveland, Ohio. Pupil of Art Students' League under Kenyon Cox and Siddons Mowbray, and of Oliver Merson in Paris, where her painting was also criticised and approved by Whistler. Her earliest work was flower painting, in which she gained an enviable reputation.

In Paris she began the study of figure painting, and her exhibition at the Salon was favorably received, the purity and brilliancy of her coloring being especially commended.

Several of Miss Stumm's pictures are well known by reproductions. Among these is the "Mother and Child," the original of which is owned by Mr. Patterson, of the Chicago _Tribune_. Her calendars, too, are artistic and popular; some of these have reached a sale of nearly half a million.

A series of studies of Sarah Bernhardt, in pastel, and a portrait of Julia Marlowe are among her works in this medium. Many of her figure subjects, such as "A Venetian Matron" and "A Violinist," are portraits, not studies from professional models.

This artist has painted an unusual variety of subjects, but is ambitious in still another department of painting--decorative art--in which she believes she could succeed.

Her works are seen in the exhibitions of the Society of American Artists and of the American Water-Color Society.

SWOBODA, JOSEPHINE. Born in Vienna, 1861. Pupil of Laufberger and I. V. Berger. This portrait artist has been successful and numbers among her subjects the Princess Henry of Prussia, the late Queen of England, whose portrait she painted at Balmoral in 1893, the Minister Bauhaus, and several members of the royal house of Austria. The portrait of Queen Victoria was exhibited at the Water-Color Club, Vienna.

She also paints charming miniatures. Her pictures are in both oil and water-colors, and are praised by the critics of the exhibitions in which they are seen.

SWOPE, MRS. KATE. Honorable mention at National Academy of Design, 1888; honorable mention and gold medal, Southern Art League, 1895; highest award, Louisville Art League, 1897. Member of Louisville Art League. Born in Louisville, Kentucky. Pupil of Edgar Ward and M. Flagg in New York, and later of B. R. Fitz.

Mrs. Swope devotes herself almost entirely to sacred subjects. The pictures that have been awarded medals are Madonnas. She prefers to paint her pictures out of doors and in the sunlight, which results in her working in a high key and, as she writes, "in tender, opalescent color."

One of her medal pictures is the "Head of a Madonna," out of doors, in a hazy, blue shadow, against a background of grapevine foliage. The head is draped in white; the eyes are cast down upon the beholder. A sun spot kisses the white draperies on the shoulder. It is a young, girlish face, but the head is suggestive of great exaltation.

A second picture which received an award was a "Madonna and Child," out of doors. The figure is half life size. Dressed in white, the Madonna is stretched at full length upon the grass. Raised on one arm, she gazes into the face of the infant Christ Child.