Part 7

Agathe and Cornélie van der Myn, sister and daughter of Herman van der Myn, accompanied the latter when he settled in London. Notable work was produced by three miniaturists: Henriette van Pee, wife of Herman Wolters, was born at Amsterdam, in 1692, and became her father's pupil. Peter the Great and the King of Prussia visited her studio, which had a high reputation, and the customary poets wrote the customary verses in her honour. Caroline-Petronille van Cuyck was made an honorary member of the _Pictura_ of the Hague, in 1777. Anne Folkema, who lived between 1695 and 1768, was an active assistant of her brother, Jacques, in his numerous works. Nor must one forget Alida Carré, who confined herself, for the most part, to painting fans; Mlle. Van Kooten, whose name was inscribed in 1765 on the registers of the Confrérie de St. Luc, at Utrecht; Marguerite Wulfraat, of Arnhem (1678-1738), and Elisabeth Gertrude Wassenberg, of Groningue, (1726-1782), who painted _genre_ and portraits.

At the opening of the 19th century the women painters of still-life, flowers and fruit, were still in large numbers.

An interesting figure who has left a poetical memory is Cornélie Lamme, of Dordrecht, who married J. B. Scheffer, and was the mother of the celebrated painters Henry and Ary, who belong to the French School. After the death of her husband she settled in Paris, and there ended her days. Her attainments, her wit, her eminent merits, made her one of the most remarkable women of her day. She was a draughtsman and an engraver.

The name of Henriette Ronner is one of great popularity. This indefatigable artist is known as "the painter of cats," and she has charmingly "hit off" both the heavy laziness of the mature animal, and the frolicsomeness of the kitten.

The flower pictures by Mme. van de Sande-Bakhuyzen, of the Hague, so well known, tempted that excellent engraver, Philippe Zilcken, who has "translated" with marvellous success their freshness and their _éclat_. Mme. Bilders van Bosse, of the Hague, is well known by her skilfully drawn and powerfully painted landscapes, and Mlle. Thérèse Schwartze, of Amsterdam, a painter of high merit, has the art of giving character to a portrait; and knows how to group her figures and paint them in strong and sombre tones. Mme. Mesdag van Houten, of the Hague, wife of the famous marine painter, affects the landscape at dark, and realises fully the melancholy tenderness of the hour.

It may be interesting now to name a truly remarkable artist who never exhibits--Mlle. Barbara van Houten, niece of Mme. Mesdag van Houten. She is an excellent painter of figure pictures and still-life; her etchings are of the highest quality, and embrace a large number of subjects--interiors with lamp effects, children's heads, landscapes, dead birds, bouquets of enormous sunflowers and gaudy tulips. Further, she has interpreted in masterly fashion, Eugène Delacroix, Jules Dupré, Gustave Courbet and other great masters of the French School.

Mention must be made of Mme. Bisschop-Robertson, who paints popular subjects with astounding vigour; Mme. Marie Heyermans, whose pictures deal with the life and surroundings of the poor; Mlles. Anna Abrahams and Anna Kerling, whose charming still-life pieces are coloured now in bright, now in sombre, tones; Mme. la baronne Hogendorp S' Jacob, of the Hague, who has turned her attention to flower painting; Mlle. Nelly Bodenheim, who does some very clever comic scenes, for the benefit of children; and Mlle. Wally Moes, of Amsterdam, a painter of portraits and peasant subjects.

Last we come to Mlle. Marius, whose fair-tinted and most distinguished still-life works have been seen and admired. She is an excellent art critic, and is now publishing an important work on Dutch painting of the 19th century.

N. JANY.

[Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, 1552 PORTRAIT OF A FLEMISH GENTLEMAN. AFTER THE ORIGINAL PAINTING IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, FROM A CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLÉMENT & CO., PARIS Catharina van Hemessen, Painter 16th Century]

[Illustration: DUTCH SCHOOL, XVII CENTURY YOUNG MAN ENCOURAGING A GIRL TO SMOKE AND DRINK. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY W. A. MANSELL & CO., AFTER THE ORIGINAL PICTURE IN A PRIVATE COLLECTION Judith Leyster, Painter 1600(?)-1660]

[Illustration: DUTCH SCHOOL, XVII AND XVIII CENTURIES PICTURE OF FRUIT WITH INSECTS AND LIZARDS. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDERSON AFTER THE ORIGINAL MASTERPIECE IN THE PITTI GALLERY, FLORENCE Rachel Ruysch, Painter 1664-1750]

[Illustration: DUTCH AND FLEMISH SCHOOLS, LATE XIX CENTURY AFTER A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING. Mme. Gilsoul-Hoppe, Painter Belgium]

[Illustration: AFTER A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Baronne van Hogendorp, Painter Holland]

[Illustration: STUDY OF STILL LIFE: ROSES IN A BASKET. FROM A TRANSLATOR'S-ETCHING BY P. ZILCKEN Madame G. J. van de Sande Bakhuyzen, Painter Holland, 1826-1895]

[Illustration: DUTCH SCHOOL, BETWEEN 1880-1890 LANDSCAPE NEAR OOSTERBEEK FROM THE ORIGINAL CHALK DRAWING Mevrouw Marie Philippine Bilders van Bosse, Painter 1837-1900]

[Illustration: DUTCH SCHOOL, LATE XIX CENTURY A BLEAK PASTORAL SCENE AFTER THE ORIGINAL WATER-COLOUR Madame Mesdag van Houten, Painter]

[Illustration: WINDMILL AT HEELSUM AFTER THE ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING Madame Marie Philippine Bilders van Bosse, Painter 1837-1900]

[Illustration: DUTCH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT STUDY OF A GIRL AFTER THE ORIGINAL PICTURE Mlle. Barbara van Houten, Painter]

[Illustration: ORPHANS. FROM A PHOTOGRAVURE OF THE ORIGINAL PICTURE PAINTED IN 1887 Mlle. Thérèse Schwartze, Painter]

[Illustration: DUTCH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT OF MLLE. THÉRÈSE SCHWARTZE. PAINTED BY HERSELF FOR THE UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE, BY REQUEST OF THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT. REPRODUCED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROGI Mlle. Thérèse Schwartze, Painter]

[Illustration: DUTCH AND FLEMISH SCHOOLS, CONTEMPORARY A POOL NEAR OOSTERBEEK. AFTER THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Madame Bilders van Bosse, Painter 1837-1900]

[Illustration: WITH THE POOR AT HOME. REPRODUCED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Mademoiselle E. Marcotte, Painter Belgium]

[Illustration: DUTCH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS OF THE CHILDREN OF MR A. MAY, AMSTERDAM. REPRODUCED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PASTEL Mademoiselle Thérèse Schwartze, Painter and Pastellist]

[Illustration: DUTCH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY "LOUTJE." FROM A SKETCH Mlle. Barbara van Houten, Painter]

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A. G. C. VAN DUYL, AUTHOR. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PASTEL Mlle. Thérèse Schwartze, Pastellist and Painter]

[Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF STILL LIFE: GRAPES AND PARTRIDGES. AFTER A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Mademoiselle Berthe Art, Painter]

[Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT STUDY OF THE COUNTESS FLORENCE FABBRICOTTI Baroness Lambert de Rothschild, Painter]

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF MONSIEUR GEVAERT. REPRODUCED FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Baroness Lambert de Rothschild, Painter]

[Illustration: FLEMISH AND DUTCH SCHOOLS, CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT OF MLLE. DETHIER. AFTER A PROOF OF THE ORIGINAL ETCHING Mlle. Louise Danse, Painter-Etcher Belgium]

[Illustration: A DUTCH PEASANT WOMAN. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Madame Suse Bisschop-Robertson, Painter Holland]

[Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY "THE LAST MOVE." REPRODUCED FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING BY PERMISSION OF MESSRS. BRAUN, CLÉMENT & CO., PARIS, OWNERS OF THE COPYRIGHT Madame Henriette Ronner, Painter]

[Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY NEW TENANTS--NOUVEAUX LOCATAIRES. AFTER THE ORIGINAL PICTURE, FROM A CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLÉMENT & CO., PARIS, OWNERS OF THE COPYRIGHT Madame Henriette Ronner, Painter]

[Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF A HERON. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Mlle. Georgette Meunier, Painter]

[Illustration: THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. AFTER MATTEO DI GIOVANNI DA SIENA Madame Marie Destrée-Danse, Etcher]

[Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY A SUNSET IN THE CAMPINE. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION FROM AN ETCHING AFTER THE PAINTING BY JOSEPH COOSEMANS IN THE BRUSSELS MUSEUM Mademoiselle E. Wesmael, Etcher]

[Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY LILIES IN THE COURTYARD OF A HOUSE OF REST AT BRUGES. AFTER A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Madame Juliette Wytsman, Painter]

In Germany and Austria, in Russia, Switzerland and Spain

By Wilhelm Schölermann. Translated into English by Wilfrid Sparroy

When we look into the past history of the present subject, the first German name we come upon is that of the Nun of Nuremberg, Sister Margareta, who worked from 1459 to 1470, and who copied many religious works. A century later, at Udina, in Italy, Irene von Spilimberg was born, descending from a noble German family; and although Irene died at the age of nineteen, she yet lived long enough to win the hearty admiration of her great master, Titian. As a picture by Irene von Spilimberg could not be obtained for this book, the editor has begun the German section with Anna Maria Schurman and with Maria Sibylla Merian. The first was a clever painter-etcher as well as the most learned lady of her time; the second was the daughter of Matthew Merian, and the exquisite studies she made, in water-colour, of insects and of plants and flowers, have never been excelled in their own line.

From Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) we pass on to an admirable mezzotint, after Morland, by Maria Prestel, who died in 1794; and then we are brought into the heart of the 19th century by the searching industry and skill of Anna Maria Ellenrieder, a very capable painter-etcher, who lived between the years 1791 and 1863. Ellenrieder looked to the past for her inspiration, going to the art of the early Dutch masters. She has little or nothing in common with the other German women artists of her time. How different is her ideal, for instance, from that of the well-known painter of historical subjects, the Baroness Hermione von Preuschen, whose dramatic and sensational spirit appeals so strongly to the great public, as in that canvas in which is represented the Corpse of Irene von Spilimberg, young and beautiful, lying in state in her Venetian gondola, draped with black and covered with flowers. Artists do not often care for pictures of this romantic type; and they find higher and more subtle qualities in the quiet wisdom of Julie Wolfthorn, a Berlin painter of note, and a follower of the modern school of psychological portraiture. Julie Wolfthorn combines depth of feeling and refinement of taste with keenness of penetration into the mystery of individual character. Her portrait of a young sculptor, given in the illustration on page 304, is a good example of the painter's methods.

Another Berlin artist of note is Fräulein Käthe Kollwitz, whose principal field of artistic expression has hitherto been restricted to the burin and copper plate. She has studied etching almost entirely by herself, and by dint of persistent courage and skill has developed her gifts in a direction all her own. The subjects that appeal most forcibly to her mind are taken with scarcely an exception from the darkest and most painful sides of social life and social unrest. Take a glance at the father, mother, and child, reproduced on page 302, and entitled "Destitution and Despair." Are you not inclined to marvel, almost, how a woman had the courage to depict, without flinching, the sad truths of such bitter poverty? Can you not fancy that you hear the moan of misery, the shrill scream of starvation, the cries of rebellion and death, as when, on the outbreak of the strike, the bulk of the working classes casts itself upon the streets? Such masses in motion have been made real to us in her series of plates from the "Peasants' War."

An artist of considerable versatility and intuition is Dora Hitz, of Berlin. Born at Altdorf, near Nürnberg, she began her studies at Munich, afterwards continuing them at intervals in Paris. In 1878 she acted upon the invitation of Carmen Silva, the Poet-Queen of Roumania, and executed a series of decorative panels for the royal castle of Pétès, at Sinaivo, the pictorial subjects of which were chosen from the literary works of her Majesty. Four years later she settled in Paris, and there she remained till 1891. During all that time her industry never flagged, and she was much indebted to the friendly interest which Eugène Carrière took in her work. The portrait of a little girl which may be seen here on page 303, belongs to the modern collection in the Berlin National Gallery.

Our next lady painter, though of German descent, her grandfather being a native of Hamburg, was herself born in Sweden. Her name is Jeanna Bauck. When she was twenty-three years of age she saw the fulfilment of her life-long yearning to go to Germany for the purpose of studying painting, and there, with a few short breaks, she has remained ever since, first in Dresden and Düsseldorf, and then at Munich, where she has now taken up her abode. She was also in Paris for a while, for the sake of study. At first exclusively a landscapist, she afterwards turned to portrait painting, an example of which may be found on page 300. For seven years (1897-1904) she lived in Berlin, and painted landscapes and portraits alternately, whilst superintending a flourishing school of art for ladies. In drawing your attention to her landscape on page 301, I should like to add that Jeanna Bauck takes rank among the most serious women painters of to-day.

There is yet another portrait painter who deserves a memory for the sake of her refinement and sensibility. I refer to the wife of Wilhelm Jensen, the historical novelist and poet of Schleswig-Holstein. Now, Frau Marie Jensen (Munich), once a pupil of the late Emil Lugo, devotes herself to her art in private. Most of her portraits, too, give proof of this same love of retirement, originating as they do in the family circle (see page 303).

The portrait of a lady, on page 300, is the work of that very gifted portrait painter, Fräulein Maria Davids. This capable artist has produced some excellent likenesses; among others those of the poet Gustav Frenssen, of Professor Weber, of Freiburg, of Fräulein von Sydow, a daughter of the Minister of State, and of Frau Vermehren of Lübeck. Another portrait painter of fame and much power of expression, is Frau Vilma Parlaghy, her draughtsmanship being particularly good. Hungarian by birth, she lives and works for the most part in the German capital. Her handling of the brush is vigorous, yet sober, her colouring is warm and harmoniously balanced, and her insight into character quite strikingly true and convincing. The finest and most successful efforts, in my opinion, are the portrait of the aged Field-marshal Count von Moltke, taken in his eighty-ninth year, shortly before his death, and that of Windhorst, the German statesman.

In Austria, in the dominions of the Emperor Francis Joseph, women painters are numerous, but those of more than average gifts are not perhaps so plentiful as elsewhere. In the Bohemian capital of Prague, Fräulein Hermine Laucota has worked her way up to a position of distinction quite on her own grounds. Leading a most retired life, devoted chiefly to the pursuit of natural history and art, she studied first in Prague, and then partly at Antwerp and in Munich, but since the year 1888 she has resided altogether in her native town. It is not in colours so much as in etching on the copper plate that she has found her medium of artistic expression, and the subjects she has chosen are for the most part of a symbolical character, as in the distinguished etching on page 307.

To come to Vienna, a couple of names of good repute occur to me: Frau Olga Wisinger-Florian and Frau Tina Blau-Lang, the latter a refined landscapist (see pages 306 and 308). The two views of the Prater will speak for themselves. With their charming freshness and their genial breadth of handling, they tell us as plain as words that "all's right with the world" in the springtime. Every touch is so bracing that it needs no praise. Frau Blau-Lang is an optimist beyond a doubt, and that as much by temperament as by choice of motive.

And when we look beyond Austria and Germany, we find everywhere among women the same enthusiasm for art, and the same unflagging courage in mastering the difficulties that thwart their every effort. That their persistence has been crowned with much success is shown in a very remarkable manner by this present book. How admirable, for instance, is the work done in Finland by Maria Wiik and Helene Schjerfbeck! In Switzerland, too, if we take a glance at the country where Anna Wasser, at the beginning of the 18th century, achieved fame by her paintings--there, too, we are welcomed by a particularly interesting painter's painter, Mdlle. Louise Breslau, who, with her thorough knowledge of modern realism, never truckles to the taste of the general public; and there, also, we find another woman painter whose art has been inspired on several occasions by the life of Christ: a woman painter so much occupied with the conception of her pictures that her technique has a tendency to lag behind the almost literary eloquence of her design. But Mdlle. Ottilie Roederstein is nevertheless an artist of real ability.

From Switzerland we must turn to Spain if we would do for ourselves what the accompanying illustrations will do for us in the pleasantest of pleasant ways. Take, for example, the airy, fresh, excellent landscape, a "Scene at Comillas," painted in water-colour by the Infante Doña Paz de Bourbon. Then, again, the "Carriage Race at Naples," by Doña Stuart Sindici, with its splendid dash and dexterity of composition, and the court outside a "Roman Hostelry," by Elena Brockmann, likewise a sunny scene, simply teem with warmth and colour, and with life and beauty. Not quite so strong and independent are the "Fisher Boys," by Antonia de Bañuelos, the conception and the execution alike being apparently inspired by that mild and noble master of Spanish painting, Esteban Murillo. Again, in Russia, we meet with a portrait-painter, Olga de Boznanska (page 316), whose work unites a certain independent character of its own with the influences of her Parisian training: qualities that marked in a much higher and more perfect degree the pictorial appeals of that young and marvellously spirited genius whose premature death cut short a career of infinite promise: Marie Bashkirtseff, the friend of Bastien Lepage, and a realist full of subtlety and of penetration.

WILHELM SCHÖLERMANN.

Some Finnish Women Painters

By Helena Westermarck, Critic and Painter

Art in Finland, pictorial art, like much else in that country, is a young growth. It is in the nineteenth century that we are first able to verify its existence, and it is only in the year 1840, or thereabouts, that we find any traces of women who seriously devoted themselves to the study of painting. The pioneers in this may be said to be Mathilda Rotkirch and Victoria Abey.

Somewhat later, in or about 1870, Fanny Churberg, after working in Düsseldorf and Paris, evinced much independent and original talent in landscape painting, her art having also an inaugural character, in that she was the first who applied herself to the decoration of textile fabrics, adapting to her purpose the old national Finnish patterns, a practice which has since then had a large following in the field of applied design. Her career, unfortunately, was soon ended by illness and an early death. After her came the generation of women artists who are at present carrying forward a young school of enthusiastic workers.

In the sphere of painting, the women artists of Finland study under much the same circumstances as their male comrades. The Schools of Art subsidized by the State are open both to male and to female pupils, and this applies also to all prizes and rewards of merit. Some account of the principal women painters may be of interest.

Maria Wiik (1853), after an apprenticeship in the Finnish Schools of Art and in Professor Becker's Private Academy, spent several years of study in Paris--occasionally moving her easel in the summers to Brittany, to Normandy, or even to St. Ives, in England. She has further developed her art in later years by visits to Holland and to Italy. Her talent lies in the direction of portrait and genre painting and she has now the name of being among the best Finnish portrait painters. She has executed many public commissions, such as the portrait of the Professor at the Rein University in Helsingfors, for the Finnish Literary Society, and that of the poet, Z. Topelius, for a large public school for girls. Many will remember her portrait of the School Inspector, Ohberg, which now hangs in the Helsingfors Board School. Maria Wiik has exhibited at the Paris Salons, and at picture exhibitions in Moscow, Copenhagen, and Dresden, and besides the prizes awarded her in her own country, she has received a bronze medal in Paris (1900) for a picture painted in St. Ives, called, "Out into the World."

Helene Schjerfbeck (1863), also a pupil of the Finnish Schools of Art and of Prof. Becker's Private Academy, continued her studies in Paris and afterwards visited Brittany, England, Austria and Italy. She has painted some important historical pictures, taking her subjects from Finnish and Swedish history, as in her two admirable paintings, "Liuköping's Prison in 1600" and "The Death of W. v. Schwerin." She has also painted a few landscapes and a number of genre pictures, many of them with subjects taken from French and English life. Helene Schjerfbeck has exhibited both at home and at the Paris Salons, has twice been awarded the lesser money prize given yearly by the Finnish State (for the two historical pictures mentioned above), while at the Exhibition in Paris in 1889, she received a bronze medal. She has also held an appointment as teacher in the Finnish Academy of Art, in the department of painting and in the drawing class from the living model. Her many pictures have been among the best that our women artists have produced.

Venny Soldan-Brofeldt (1860) is another pupil of the Finnish Schools of Art and of Prof. Becker's Academy, and has studied later in Paris, and in Spain and Italy. Her best work is in the genre style, many of her pictures being very characteristic and true scenes of Finnish peasant life, such as "Meal time in a Peasant's Hut" and "Pietists." Her landscapes, too, are remarkable for a sensitive conception of Nature; especially is this true of her pictures of our coast scenery, with its low granite rocks, washed over by the sea waves. Mrs. Soldan-Brofeldt has illustrated also some books for children, among others a part of a large Scandinavian edition of Topelius' Saga tales for children. At the Paris Exhibition of 1889, she received a "Mention Honorable," and in 1900, a bronze medal. She is the wife of the author, Juhani Aho. Brofeldt. Mrs. Soldan-Brofeldt's work is not illustrated in this book, as a photograph of her most important picture was broken into fragments in its journey from Finland to London.

It is characteristic of all these painters that their artistic bias was determined by their study in Paris of the French naturalists, who inspired them with a stern respect for drawing, and taught them to study Nature seriously. Starting from this common standpoint, they have, whilst working in their own way, developed along their own individual lines.

Many another woman artist deserves mention, but the limited space at my disposal permits me to give only a list of their names.

There is Ellen Thesleff, a figure painter; there is Elin Danielson-Gambogi (wife of the Italian painter, R. Gambogi), well-known for her portraits and landscapes; there is Julia Stigzelius de Cock (wife of the Belgian artist, Césare de Cock), a clever landscape painter; there is Amélie Lundahl, figure painter; and Ada Thilén, with her landscapes; and Hanna Rönnberg, with her subject pictures and outdoor scenes; and Anna Sahlstén, a figure painter; and last, but not least, I name Annie Torselles-Schybergson, a good painter of animals.

HELENA WESTERMARCK.

[Illustration: SILHOUETTE BY NELLY BODENHEIM.]

[Illustration: RUSSIAN SCHOOL, 1884 "A MEETING." AFTER THE ORIGINAL PAINTING IN THE LUXEMBOURG, PARIS, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY LEVY & SONS, PARIS Mademoiselle Marie Bashkirtseff, Painter 1860-1884]