Chapter 12

FOLEY, MARGARET E. A native of New Hampshire. Died in 1877. Without a master, in the quiet of a country village, Miss Foley modelled busts in chalk and carved small figures in wood. At length she made some reputation in Boston, where she cut portraits and ideal heads in cameo. She went to Rome and remained there. She became an intimate friend of Mr. and Mrs. Howitt, and died at their summer home in the Austrian Tyrol.

Among her works are busts of Theodore Parker, Charles Sumner, and others; medallions of William and Mary Howitt, Longfellow, and Bryant; and several ideal statues and bas-reliefs.

In a critical estimate of Miss Foley we read: "Her head of the somewhat impracticable but always earnest senator from Massachusetts--Sumner--is unsurpassable and beyond praise. It is simple, absolute truth, embodied in marble."--_Tuckerman's Book of the Artists._

"Miss Foley's exquisite medallions and sculptures ought to be reproduced in photograph. Certainly she was a most devoted artist, and America has not had so many sculptors among women that she can afford to forget any one of them."--_Boston Advertiser,_ January, 1878.

FONTAINE, JENNY. Silver medal, Julian Academy, 1889; silver medal at Amiens Exposition, 1890 and 1894; honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1892; gold medal at Rouen Exposition, 1893; third-class medal, Salon, 1896; bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1900. Officer of the Academy, 1896; Officer of Public Instruction, 1902. Member of the Société des Artistes Français, Paris; Société de l'Union Artistique, du Pas-de-Calais, at Arras; corresponding member of the Academy of Arras. Pupil of Jules Lefebvre and Benjamin-Constant.

Mlle. Fontaine paints portraits only--of these she has exhibited regularly at the Salons for sixteen years. Among her sitters have been many persons of distinction, both men and women.

At the Salon of 1902 she exhibited her own portrait; in 1903, portraits of MM. Rene et Georges D. The _Journal des Arts_, giving an account of the exhibition at Rheims, summer, 1903, says: "The portraits here are not so numerous as one might expect, but they are too fine to be overlooked. Mlle. Jenny Fontaine has, for a long time, held a distinguished place as a _portraitiste_ in our Salons, and two of her works are here: a portrait of a young girl and one of General Jeanningros."

FONTANA, LAVINIA. Born in Bologna, 1552. Her father was a distinguished portrait painter in Rome in the time of Pope Julius III., but the work of his daughter was preferred before his own. She was elected to the Academy of Rome, while her charms were extolled in poetry and prose.

Pope Gregory XIII. made her his painter-in-ordinary. Patrician ladies, cardinals, and Roman nobles contended for the privilege of having their portraits from her hand. Men of rank and scholars paid court to her, but, with a waywardness not altogether uncommon, she married a man who was even thought to be lacking in sense.

One of her two daughters was blind of one eye, and her only son was so simple that the loungers in the antechamber of the Pope were accustomed to amuse themselves with his want of wit. She is said to have died of a broken heart after the death of this son, and her portrait of him is considered her masterpiece.

Her own portrait was one of her most distinguished works, and though it is in possession of her husband's family, the Zappi, of Imola, it may be judged by an engraving after it in Rossini's "History of Italian Painting."

Many portraits by Lavinia Fontana are in the private collections of Italian families for whom they were painted. In the Gallery of Bologna there is a night-scene, the "Nativity of the Virgin," by her, and in the Escorial is a Madonna lifting a veil to regard the sleeping Jesus, while SS. Joseph and John stand near by.

In the churches of San Giacomo Maggiore and of the Madonna del Baracano, both in Bologna, are Fontana's pictures of the "Madonna with Saints." In Pieve di Cento are two of her works--a "Madonna" and an "Ascension." It is said that several pictures by this artist are in England, but I have failed to find to what collections they belong.

Lavinia Fontana was a distinguished woman in a notable age, and if, in translating the tributes that were paid her by the authors of her day, we should faithfully render their superlatives, these writings would seem absurd in their exaggerations, and our comparatively cold adjectives would be taxed beyond their power of expression.

FONTANA, VERONICA. Born in 1576. A pupil of Elisabetta Sirani, who devoted herself to etching and wood-engraving. She is known from her exceedingly fine, delicate portraits on wood and etchings of scenes from the life of the Madonna.

FOORD, MISS J. A painter of plants and flowers, which are much praised. An article in the _Studio_, July, 1901, says: "Miss Foord, by patient and observant study from nature, has given us a very pleasing, new form of useful work, that has traits in common; with the illustrations to be found in the excellent botanical books of the beginning of the nineteenth century." After praising the works of this artist, attention is called to her valuable book, "Decorative Flower Studies," illustrated with forty plates printed in colors.

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FOOTE, MARY HALLOCK. Born in Milton, New York. At New York School of Design for Women this artist studied anatomy and composition under William Rimmer, and drawing on wood and black and white under William J. Linton. Mrs. Foote is a member of the Alumni of the School of Design.

Her illustrations have been exhibited by the publishers for whom they were made. In the beginning her work was suited to the taste and custom of the time. She illustrated the so-called "Gift Books" and poems in the elaborate fashion of the period. Later she was occupied principally in illustrations for the Century Company and Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Mrs. Foote writes that Miss Regina Armstrong--now Mrs. Niehaus--in a series of articles on "Women Illustrators of America," whom she divided into classes, placed her with the "Story-Tellers."

FORBES, MRS. STANHOPE. Mr. Norman Gastin, in an article upon the work of the Royal Academician, Stanhope Forbes, in the _Studio_, July, 1901, pays the following tribute to the wife of the artist, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Armstrong:

"Mrs. Stanhope Forbes's work does not ask you for any of that chivalrous gentleness which is in itself so derogatory to the powers of women. As an artist she stands shoulder to shoulder with the very best; she has taste and fancy, without which she could not be an artist. But what strikes one about her most is summed up in the word 'ability.' She is essentially able. The work which that wonderful left hand of hers finds to do, it does with a certainty that makes most other work look tentative beside hers. The gestures and poses she chooses in her models show how little she fears drawing, while the gistness of her criticism has a most solvent effect in dissolving the doubts that hover round the making of pictures."

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FORTI, ENRICA. Rome.

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FORTIN DE COOL, DELFINA. Third-class medal, Madrid, 1864, for the following works reproduced on porcelain: the "Conception" of Murillo, the "Magdalen" of Antolinez, and the portrait of Alonso Cano by Velazquez; also a portrait on ivory of a young girl.

This artist, who was French by birth, was a pupil of her father. For paintings executed in the imperial works at Sèvres, she was awarded prizes at Blois, Besançon, Rouen, Perigueux, and Paris.

FOULQUES, ELISA. Born in Pjatigorsk, in the Caucasus. She came under Italian influence when but four years old, and was taken to Naples. At the Institute of the Fine Arts she was a pupil of Antoriello, Mancinelli, Perrisi, and Solari. She received a diploma when leaving the Institute. Her picture, "Mendica," was exhibited in Naples, 1886; "Un ultimo Squardo" and "Sogno," 1888. In London, in 1888, "Tipo Napoletano," "Studio dal vero," and "Ricordi" were exhibited. Since 1884 this artist has taught drawing in the Municipal School for Girls in Naples, and has executed many portraits in oil, as well as numerous pastels and water-colors. Among her later works are "La Figlia del Corsaro," "Chiome nere," "Una Carezza al Nonno," and "Di Soppiatto."

FRACKLETON, SUSAN STUART. Medal at Antwerp Exposition, 1894; at Paris Exposition, 1900. Founder and first president of National League of Mineral Painters; member of Park and Outdoor Association. Born at Milwaukee, 1848. Pupil of private studios in Milwaukee and New York.

Mrs. Frackleton's gas-kilns for firing decorated china and glass are well known; also her book, "Tried by Fire," a treatise on china painting. As a ceramic artist she has exhibited in various countries, and has had numerous prizes for her work. She declined the request of the Mexican Government to be at the head of a National School of Ceramic Decoration, etc. She is also a lecturer on topics connected with the so-called arts and crafts.

FREEMAN, FLORENCE. Born in Boston. 1836-1883. Pupil of Richard S. Greenough in Boston and of Hiram Powers in Florence, Italy. After a year in Florence she went to Rome, where she made her home. Among her works are a bust of "Sandalphon," which belonged to Mr. Longfellow, bas-reliefs of Dante, and a statue of the "Sleeping Child."

She sent to the Exhibition in Philadelphia, 1876, a chimney-piece on which were sculptured "Children and the Yule-Log and Fireside Spirits." This was purchased by Mrs. Hemenway, of Boston.

"Her works are full of poetic fancy; her bas-reliefs of the seven days of the week and of the hours are most lovely and original in conception. Her sketches of Dante in bas-reliefs are equally fine. Her designs for chimney-pieces are gems, and in less prosaic days than these, when people were not satisfied with the work of mechanics, but demanded artistic designs in the commonest household articles, they would have made her famous."--_The Revolution_, May, 1871.

FRENCH, JANE KATHLEEN. Member of the Water-Color Society of Ireland. Born in Dublin. Studied in Brussels under M. Bourson, and in Wiesbaden under Herr Kögler. Miss French is a miniaturist and exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1901, a case of her works which she was later specially invited to send to an exhibition in Liverpool, and several other exhibits.

The last two years she has exhibited in Ireland only, as her commissions employ her time so fully that she cannot prepare for foreign expositions.

FREYBERG, BARONESS MARIE ELECTRINE. Elected to the Academy of St. Luke, 1822. Born in Strassburg. 1797-1847. Daughter and pupil of the landscape painter, Stuntz. After travelling in France and Italy, making special studies in Rome, she settled in Munich. She painted historical and religious subjects, and a few portraits. "Zacharias Naming the Little St. John" is in the New Picture Gallery, Munich; in the same gallery is also a portrait called the "Boy Playing a Flute"; in the Leuchtenberg Gallery, Petersburg, is her "Three Women at the Sepulchre." She painted a picture called the "Glorification of Religion through Art" and a "Madonna in Prayer." She also executed a number of lithographs and etchings.

FRIEDLÄNDER, CAMILLA. Born in Vienna, 1856. She was instructed by her father, Friedrich Friedländer. Among her numerous paintings of house furniture, antiquities, and dead animals should be especially mentioned her picture in the Rudolfinum at Prague, which represents all sorts of drinking-vessels, 1888. Some critics affirm that she has shown more patience and industry than wealth of artistic ideas, but her still-life pictures demanded those qualities and brought her success and artistic recognition.

FRIEDRICH, CAROLINE FRIEDERIKE. Born in Dresden. 1749-1815. Honorary member of Dresden Academy. In the Dresden Gallery is a picture by this artist, "Pastry on a Plate with a Glass of Wine," signed 1799.

FRIEDRICHSON, ERNESTINE. Born in Dantzig, 1824. Pupil of Marie Wiegmann in Düsseldorf, and later of Jordan and Wilhelm Sohn. While still a student she visited Holland, Belgium, England, and Italy. Her favorite subjects were scenes from the every-day life of Poles and Jews.

Her best pictures were sold to private collectors. Among these are "Polish Raftsmen Resting in the Forest," 1867; "Polish Raftsmen before a Crucifix," 1869; "A Jew Rag-picker," 1870; "The Jewish Quarter in Amsterdam on Friday Evening," 1881; "A Goose Girl," 1891.

FRIES, ANNA. Silver medal at Berne, 1857; two silver medals from the Academy of Urbino; silver medal at the National Exposition by Women in Florence. Honorary member of the Academy Michael Angela, Florence, and of the Academy of Urbino. Born in Zürich, 1827. She encountered much opposition to her desire to study art, but her talent was so manifest that at length she was permitted to study drawing in Zürich, and her rapid progress was finally recognized and she was taken to Paris, where the great works of the masters were an inspiration to her. She has great individuality in her pictures, which have been immoderately praised. She visited Italy, and in 1857 went to Holland, where she painted portraits of Queen Sophia and the Prince of Orange. She returned to Zürich and was urged to remain in Switzerland, but she was ambitious of further study, and went again to Florence. She there painted a portrait of the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia. She turned her attention to decorative painting, and her success in this may be seen in the facades of the Schmitz villa, the Schemboche establishment, and her own home. When we consider the usual monotony of this art, the charming effects which Mme. Fries has produced make her distinguished in this specialty.

FRISHMUTH, HARRIET WHITNEY.

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FRITZE, MARGARETHE AUGUSTE. Born in Magdeburg, 1845. This genre painter worked first in Bremen, and went in 1873 to Munich, where she studied with Grützner and Liezen-Meyer. The most significant of her pictures is "The Little Handorgan-Player with His Monkey." She has also executed many strong portraits, and her painting is thought to show the influence of A. von Kotzebue and Alexander Wagner. In 1880 she spent some time in Stuttgart, and later settled in Berlin.

FRORIEP, BERTHA. Born in Berlin, 1833. Pupil of Martersteig and Pauwels in Weimar. This artist's pictures were usually of genre subjects. Her small game pictures with single figures are delightful. She also painted an unusually fine portrait of Friedrich Rückert. At an exhibition by the women artists of Berlin, 1892, a pen study by Fräulein Froriep attracted attention and was admired for its spirit and its clear execution.

FRUMERIE, MME. DE. Honorable mention at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1893 and 1895. Born in Sweden, she studied in the School of Fine Arts in Stockholm. There she gained a prize which entitled her to study abroad during four years.

She has exhibited her works in Paris, and to the Salon of Les Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs, in February, 1903, she contributed a bust of Strindberg which was a delightful example of life-like portraiture.

FULLER, LUCIA FAIRCHILD. Bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1900; silver medal, Buffalo Exposition, 1901. Member of the Society of American Artists and of the American Society of Miniature Painters. Born in Boston. Studied at the Cowles Art School, Boston, under Denis M. Bunker, and at the Art Students' League, New York, under H. Siddons Mowbray and William M. Chase.

Mrs. Fuller is a most successful miniature painter. Among her principal works are "Mother and Child," in the collection of Mrs. David P. Kimball, Boston; "Girl with a Hand-Glass," owned by Hearn; and "Girl Drying Her Feet," for which the medal was given in Paris.

Mrs. Fuller's miniatures are portraits principally, and are in private hands. Some of her sitters in New York are Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan and her children, Mrs. H. P. Whitney and children, J. J. Higginson, Esq., Dr. Edwin A. Tucker, and many others.

GAGGIOTTI-RICHARDS, EMMA. Historical and portrait painter, of the middle of the nineteenth century, is known by her portrait of Alexander von Humboldt (in possession of the Emperor William II.) and by her portrait of herself before her easel. Her historical paintings include "The Crusader" and a "Madonna."

GALLI, EMIRA. Reproduces with great felicity the customs of the lagoons, the boys and fishermen of which she represents with marvellous fidelity. She depicts not only characteristics of features and dress, but of movement. "Giovane veneziana" and "Ragazzo del Popolo" were exhibited at Turin in 1880, and were much admired. "Il Falconiere" was exhibited at both Turin and Milan. "Un Piccolo Accattone" has also been accorded warm praise.

GARDNER, ELIZABETH JANE. Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1879; gold medal, 1889; hors concours. Born in Exeter, New Hampshire, 1851, her professional life has been spent in Paris, where she was a pupil of Hugues Merle, Lefebvre, and M. William A. Bouguereau, whom she married.

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GARRIDO Y AGUDO, MARIA DE LA SOLEDAD. Born in Salamanca. Pupil of Juan Peyró. She exhibited two works at the National Exposition, 1876--a portrait and a youth studying a picture. In 1878 she sent to the same exposition "The Sacrifice of the Saguntine Women." At the Philadelphia Exposition, 1876, she exhibited her "Messenger of Love." Her "Santa Lucia" is in the church of San Roque de Gardia.

GASSO Y VIDAL, LEOPOLDA. Honorable mention, 1876. Prizes, 1876, for two works sent to the Provincial Exposition of Leon. Member of the Association of Authors and Artists, 1876. Born in the Province of Toledo. Pupil of Manuel Martinez Ferrer and Isidoro Lozano. At Madrid, in 1881, she exhibited "A Pensioner," "A Beggar," a portrait of Señorita M. J., and a landscape; in 1878, "A Coxcomb," "Street Venders of Ávila," and a landscape; and in 1881, at an exhibition held by D. Ricardo Hernandez, were seen a landscape and a portrait of D. Lucas Aguirre y Juarez.

GEEFS, MME. FANNY ISABELLE MARIE. Born at Brussels. 1814-1883. Wife of the sculptor, Guillaume Geefs. A painter of portraits and genre subjects which excel the historical pictures she also painted. Her "Assumption of the Virgin" is in a church at Waterloo; "Christ Appearing to His Disciples," in a church at Hauthem. "The Virgin Consoling the Afflicted" was awarded a medal in Paris, and is in the Hospital of St. John at Brussels. The "Virgin and Child" was purchased by the Belgian Government. Her portraits are good, and among her genre subjects the "Young Mother," the "Sailor's Daughter," and "Ophelia" are attractive and artistic in design and execution.

GELDER, LUCIA VAN. Born in Wiesbaden. 1864-1899. This artist was the daughter of an art dealer, and her constant association as a child with good pictures stimulated her to study. In Berlin she had lessons in drawing with Liezenmayer, and in color with Max Thedy. She was also a constant student at the galleries. She began to work independently when eighteen, and a number of her pictures achieved great popularity, being reproduced in many art magazines. "The Little Doctor," especially, in which a boy is feeling, with a grave expression of knowledge, the pulse of his sister's pet kitten, has been widely copied in photographs, wood-engravings, and in colors. She repeated the picture in varying forms. She died in Munich, where she was favorably known through such works as "The Village Barber," "Contraband," "The Wonderful Story," "At the Sick Bed," and "The Violin Player," the last painted the year before her death.

GENTILESCHI, ARTEMISIA. 1590-1642. A daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, whom she accompanied to England when he was invited to the court of Charles I. Artemisia has been called the pupil, and again the friend, of Guido Reni. Whatever the relation may have been, there is no doubt that the manner of her painting was influenced by Guido, and also by her study of the works of Domenichino.

Wagner says that she excelled her father in portraits, and her own likeness, in the gallery at Hampton Court, is a powerful and life-like picture. King Charles had several pictures from her hand, one of which, "David with the Head of Goliath," was much esteemed. Her "Mary Magdalene" and "Judith with the Head of Holofernes" are in the Pitti Palace. The latter work is a proof of her talent. Lanzi says: "It is a picture of strong coloring, of a tone and intensity which inspires awe." Mrs. Jameson praised its execution while she regretted its subject.

Her picture of the "Birth of John the Baptist," in the Gallery of the Prado, is worthy of attention, even in that marvellous collection, where is also her "Woman Caressing Pigeons." The Historical Society of New York has her picture of "Christ among the Doctors."

After her return to Italy from England, this artist was married and resided in Naples. Several of her letters are in existence. They tell of the manner of her life and give an interesting picture of Neapolitan society in her day.

GESSLER DE LACROIX, ALEJANDRENA --known in art circles as Madame Anselma. Gold medal at Cadiz, 1880. Honorary member of the Academy of Cadiz. She has spent some years in Paris, where her works are often seen in exhibitions. Her medal picture at Cadiz was an "Adoration of the Cross." One of her most successful works is called "The Choir Boys."

GILES, MISS--MRS. BERNARD JENKIN. This sculptor exhibited a life-size marble group, called "In Memoriam," at the Royal Academy in 1900, which attracted much attention. It was graceful in design and of a sympathetic quality. At an open competition in the London Art Union her "Hero" won the prize. In 1901 she exhibited an ambitious group called "After Nineteen Hundred Years, and still They Crucify." It was excellent in modelling, admirable in sentiment, and displayed strength in conception and execution.

GINASSI, CATERINA. Born in Rome, 1590. This artist was of noble family, and one of her uncles, a Cardinal, founded the Church of Santa Lucia, in which Caterina, after completing her studies under Lanfranco, painted several large pictures. After the death of the Cardinal, with money which he had given her for the purpose, Caterina founded a cloister, with a seminary for the education of girls.

As Abbess of this community she proved herself to be of unusual ability. In her youth she had been trained in practical affairs as well as in art, and, although she felt that "the needle and distaff were enemies to the brush and pencil," her varied knowledge served her well in the responsibilities she had assumed, and at the head of the institution she had founded she became as well known for her executive ability as for her piety.

Little as the works of Lanfranco appeal to us, he was a notable artist of the Carracci school; Caterina did him honor as her master, and, in the esteem of her admirers, excelled him as a painter.

GIRARDET, BERTHE. Gold medal at the Paris Exposition, 1900; honorable mention, Salon des Artistes Français, 1900; ten silver medals from foreign exhibitions. Member of the Société des Artistes Français and the Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs. Born at Marseilles. Her father was Swiss and her mother a Miss Rogers of Boston. She was a pupil for three months of Antonin-Carlès, Paris. With this exception, Mme. Girardet writes: "I studied mostly alone, looking to nature as the best teacher, and with energetic perseverance trying to give out in a concrete form all that filled my heart."