Women In The Fine Arts From The Seventh Century B C To The Twen

Chapter 16

Chapter 163,924 wordsPublic domain

She painted several portraits of herself; one is in the National Portrait Gallery, London, one at Munich, and a third in the Uffizi, Florence. The last is near that of Madame Le Brun, and the contrast between the two is striking. Angelica is still young, but the expression of her face is so grave as to be almost melancholy; she is sitting on a stone in the midst of a lonely landscape; she has a portfolio in one hand and a pencil in the other, and so unstudied is her pose, and so lacking in any attempt to look her best, that one feels that she is entirely absorbed in her work. The Frenchwoman could not forget to be interesting; Angelica was interesting with no thought of being so.

I regard three works by this artist, which are in the Dresden Gallery, as excellent examples of her work; they are "A Young Vestal," "A Young Sibyl," and "Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus."

On the margin of one of her pictures she wrote: "I will not attempt to express supernatural things by human inspiration, but wait for that till I reach heaven, if there is painting done there."

In 1784 Angelica Kauffman painted "Servius Tullius as a Child" for the Czar of Russia; in 1786 "Hermann and Thusnelda" and "The Funeral of Pallas" for Joseph II. These are now in the Vienna Gallery. Three pictures, "Virgil Reading the Aeneid to the Empress Octavia," "Augustus Reading Verses on the Death of Marcellus," and "Achilles Discovered by Ulysses, in Female Attire," were painted for Catherine II. of Russia. "Religion Surrounded by Virtues," 1798, is in the National Gallery, London. A "Madonna" and a "Scene from the Songs of Ossian" are in the Aschaffenburg Gallery. A "Madonna in Glory" and the "Women of Samaria," 1799, are in the New Pinakothek, Munich, where is also the portrait of Louis I. of Bavaria, as Crown Prince, 1805. The "Farewell of Abelard and Heloise," together with other works of this artist, are in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. A "Holy Family," and others, in the Museo Civico, Venice. "Prudence Warning Virtue against Folly," in the Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia. Portraits of Winckelmann in the Städel Institute, Frankfort, and in the Zürich Gallery. Portrait of a Lady, Stuttgart Museum; the Duchess of Brunswick, Hampton Court Palace; the architect Novosielski, National Gallery, Edinburgh. In addition to the portraits of herself mentioned above, there are others in Berlin Museum, the Old Pinakothek, Munich, the Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, and in the Philadelphia Academy.

KAULA, MRS. LEE LUFKIN. Member of the Woman's Art Club, New York. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania. Pupil in New York of Charles Melville Dewey and the Metropolitan Art Schools; in Paris, during three years, pupil of Girardot, Courtois, the Colarossi Academy, and of Aman-Jean.

Mrs. Kaula is essentially a portrait painter, although she occasionally paints figure subjects. Her portraits are in private hands in various cities, and her works have been exhibited in Paris, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, etc. She paints in both oil and water-colors.

KAYSER, EBBA. Medals in Vienna, Dresden, and Cologne for landscapes and flower pieces. Born in Stockholm, 1846. When twenty years old she went to Vienna, where she studied under Rieser, Geyling, and Karl Hannold. She did not exhibit her works until 1881, since when she has been favorably known, especially in Austria. A water-color of a "Mill near Ischl" and several other pictures by this artist have been purchased for the Imperial Collections.

KEITH, DORA WHEELER.

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KEMP-WELCH, LUCY ELIZABETH. Fellow and Associate of Herkomer School, and member of the Royal Society of British Artists. Born at Bournemouth, 1869. Has exhibited annually at the Royal Academy since 1894. In 1897 her picture of "Colt Hunting in the New Forest" was purchased by the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest; in 1900 that of "Horses Bathing in the Sea" was bought for the National Gallery at Victoria. In 1901 she exhibited "Lord Dundonald's Dash on Lady-smith."

In July, 1903, in his article on the Royal Academy Exhibition, the editor of the _Magazine of Art_, in enumerating good pictures, mentions: "Miss Lucy Kemp-Welch's well-studied 'Village Street' at dusk, and her clever 'Incoming Tide,' with its waves and rocks and its dipping, wheeling sea gulls."

Mr. Frederick Wetmore, in writing of the Spring Exhibition of the Royal Painter Etchers, says: "Miss Kemp-Welch, whose best work, so delicate that it could only lose by the reduction of a process block, shows the ordinary English country, the sign-post of the crossways, and the sheep along the lane."

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KENDELL, MARIE VON. Born in Lannicken, 1838. Pupil of Pape, Otto von Kameke, and Dressier. She travelled in England, Italy, and Switzerland, and many of her works represent scenes in these countries. In 1882 she painted the Cadinen Peaks near Schluderbach, in the Ampezzo Valley. At the exhibition of the Women Artists in Berlin, 1892, she exhibited two mountain landscapes and a view of "Clovelly in Devonshire." The last was purchased by the Emperor. To the same exhibition in 1894 she contributed two Swiss landscapes, which were well considered.

KIELLAND, KITTY. Sister of the famous Norwegian novelist, Alexander Kielland. Her pictures of the forests and fjords of Norway are the best of her works and painted _con amore._ Recently she exhibited a portrait which was much praised and said to be so fresh and life-like in treatment, so flexible and vivacious in color, that one is involuntarily attracted by it, without any knowledge of the original.

KILLEGREW, ANNE. Was a daughter of Dr. Henry Killegrew, a prebendary of Westminster Cathedral. Anne was born in 1660, and when still quite young was maid of honor to the Duchess of York, whose portrait she painted as well as that of the future King James II. She also painted historical subjects and still-life.

One of her admirers wrote of her as "A grace for beauty and a muse for wit." A biographer records her death from smallpox when twenty-five years old, "to the unspeakable reluctancy of her relatives." She was buried in the Savoy Chapel, now a "Royal Peculiar," and a mural tablet set forth her beauty, accomplishments, graces, and piety in a Latin inscription.

Anne Killigrew was notable for her poetry as well as for her painting. Dryden wrote an ode in her memory which Dr. Johnson called "the noblest our language has produced." It begins: "Thou youngest virgin daughter of the skies." After praising her poetry Dryden wrote:

"Her pencil drew whate'er her soul designed, And oft the happy draught surpassed the image of her mind."

Of her portrait of James II. he says:

"For, not content to express his outward part, Her hand called out the image of his heart; His warlike mind--his soul devoid of fear-- His high designing thoughts were figured there."

Having repeated these panegyrics, it is but just to add that two opinions existed concerning the merit of Mistress Killigrew's art and of Dryden's ode, which another critic called "a harmonious hyperbole, composed of the Fall of Adam--Arethusa--Vestal Virgins--Dian--Cupid--Noah's Ark--the Pleiades--the fall of Jehoshaphat--and the last Assizes."

Anthony Wood, however, says: "There is nothing spoken of her which she was not equal to, if not superior, and if there had not been more true history in her praises than compliment, her father never would have suffered them to pass the press."

KINDT, ADELE. This painter of history and of genre subjects won her first prize at Ghent when less than twenty-two, and received medals at Douai, Cambrai, Ghent, and Brussels before she was thirty-two. Was made a member of the Brussels, Ghent, and Lisbon Academies. Born in Brussels, 1805. Pupil of Sophie Frémiet and of Navez. Her picture of the "Last Moments of Egmont" is in the Ghent Museum; among her other historical pictures are "Melancthon Predicting Prince Willem's Future" and "Elizabeth Sentencing Mary Stuart," which is in the Hague Museum. The "Obstinate Scholar" and "Happier than a King" are two of her best genre pictures.

KING, JESSIE M. A most successful illustrator and designer of book-covers, who was educated as an artist in the Glasgow School of Decorative Art. In this school and at that of South Kensington she was considered a failure, by reason of her utterly unacademic manner. She did not see things by rule and she persistently represented them as she saw them. Her love of nature is intense, and when she illustrated the "Jungle Book" she could more easily imagine that the animals could speak a language that Mowgli could understand, than an academic artist could bring himself to fancy for a moment. Her work is full of poetic imagination, of symbolism, and of the spirit of her subject.

Walter P. Watson, in a comprehensive critique of her work, says: "Her imaginations are more perfect and more minutely organized than what is seen by the bodily eye, and she does not permit the outward creation to be a hindrance to the expression of her artistic creed. The force of representation plants her imagined figures before her; she treats them as real, and talks to them as if they were bodily there; puts words in their mouths such as they should have spoken, and is affected by them as by persons. Such creation is poetry in the literal sense of the term, and Miss King's dreamy and poetical nature enables her to create the persons of the drama, to invest them with appropriate figures, faces, costumes, and surroundings; to make them speak after their own characters."

Her important works are in part the illustrations of "The Little Princess," "The Magic Grammar," "La Belle Dame sans Merci," "L'Evangile de l'Enfance," "The Romance of the Swan's Nest," etc.

She also makes exquisite designs for book-covers, which have the spirit of the book for which they are made so clearly indicated that they add to the meaning as well as to the beauty of the book.

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KIRCHSBERG, ERNESTINE VON. Medal at Chicago Exposition, 1893. Born in Verona, 1857. Pupil of Schäffer and Darnaut. This artist has exhibited in Vienna since 1881, and some of her works have been purchased for the royal collection. Her landscapes, both in oil and water-colors, have established her reputation as an excellent artist, and she gains the same happy effects in both mediums. Her picture shown at Chicago was "A Peasant Home in Southern Austria."

KIRSCHNER, MARIE. Born at Prague, 1852. Pupil of Adolf Lier in Munich, and Jules Dupré and Alfred Stevens in Paris. In 1883 she travelled in Italy, and has had her studio in Berlin and in Prague. The Rudolfinum at Prague contains her "Village Tulleschitz in Bohemia." She is also, known by many flower pieces and by the "Storm on the Downs of Heyst," "Spring Morning," and a "Scene on the Moldau."

KITSON, MRS. H. H. Honorable mention, Paris Exposition, 1889; and the same at Paris Salon, 1890; two medals from Massachusetts Charitable Association; and has exhibited in all the principal exhibitions of the United States. Born in Brookline. Pupil of her husband, Henry H. Kitson, and of Dagnan-Bouveret in Paris.

The women of Michigan commissioned Mrs. Kitson to make two bronze statues representing the woods of their State for the Columbian Exhibition at Chicago. Her principal works are the statue of a volunteer for the Soldiers' Monument at Newburyport; Soldiers' Monument at Ashburnham; Massachusetts State Monument to 29th, 35th, and 36th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry at National Military Park at Vicksburg; also medallion portraits of Generals Dodge, Ransom, Logan, Blair, Howard, A. J. Smith, Grierson, and McPherson, for the Sherman Monument at Washington.

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KLUMPKE, ANNA ELIZABETH. Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1885; silver medal, Versailles, 1886; grand prize, Julian Academy, 1889; Temple gold medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1889; bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1889. Member of the Copley Society, Boston; of the Society of Baron Taylor, Paris; and of the Paris Astronomical Society. Born in San Francisco. Pupil of the Julian Academy, under Robert-Fleury, and Jules Lefebvre, where she received, in 1888, the prize of the silver medal and one hundred francs--the highest award given at the annual Portrait Concours, between the men and women students of the above Academy.

Among Miss Klumpke's principal works are: "In the Wash-house," owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; portrait of Mrs. Nancy Foster, at the Chicago University; "Maternal Instruction," in the collection of Mr. Randolph Jefferson Coolidge, Boston; many portraits, among which are those of Madame Klumpke, Rosa Bonheur, Mrs. Thorp, Mrs. Sargent, Count Kergaradec, etc.

In writing me of her own life-work and that of her family, she says, what we may well believe: "Longfellow's thought, 'Your purpose in life must be to accomplish well your task,' has been our motto from childhood."

Anna Klumpke, being the eldest of the four daughters of her mother, had a double duty: her own studies and profession and the loving aid and care of her sisters. In the beginning of her art studies it was only when her home duties were discharged that she could hasten to the Luxembourg, where, curiously enough, her time was devoted to copying "Le Labourage Nivernais," by Rosa Bonheur, whose beloved and devoted friend she later became.

Meantime Anna Klumpke had visited Boston and other cities of her native land, and made a success, not only as an artist, but as a woman, whose intelligence, cheerfulness, and broad interests in life made her a delightful companion. Sailing from Antwerp one autumn, I was told by a friend that a lady on board had a letter of introduction to me from Madame Bouguereau. It proved to be Miss Klumpke, and the acquaintance thus begun, as time went on, disclosed to me a remarkable character, founded on a remarkable experience, and it was no surprise to me that the great and good Rosa Bonheur found in Anna Klumpke a sympathetic and reliable friend and companion for her last days.

The history of this friendship and its results are too well known to require more than a passing mention. Miss Klumpke is now established in Paris, and writes me that, in addition to her painting, she is writing of Rosa Bonheur. She says: "This biography consists of reminiscences of Rosa Bonheur's life, her impressions of Nature, God, and Art, with perhaps a short sketch of how I became acquainted with the illustrious woman whose precious maternal tenderness will remain forever the most glorious event of my life."

At the Salon des Artistes Français, 1903, Miss Klumpke exhibited a picture called "Maternal Affection."

KNOBLOCH, GERTRUDE. Born at Breslau, 1867. Pupil of Skirbina in Berlin. Her studio is in Brussels. She paints in oil and water-colors. Among her best pictures are "In the Children's Shoes," "The Forester's Leisure Hours," and a "Madonna with the Christ Child."

Two of her works in gouache are worthy of mention: "An Effeminate" and "Children Returning from School."

KOLLOCK, MARY. Born at Norfolk, Virginia, 1840. Studied at the Pennsylvania Academy under Robert Wylie, and in New York under J. B. Bristol and A. H. Wynant. Her landscapes have been exhibited at the National Academy, New York. Several of these were scenes about Lake George and the Adirondack regions. "Morning in the Mountains" and "On the Road to Mt. Marcy" were exhibited in 1877; "A November Day" and an "Evening Walk," in 1878; "A House in East Hampton, Two Hundred and Twenty Years Old," in 1880; "On Rondout Creek," in 1881; and "The Brook," in 1882.

KOKER, ANNA MARIA DE. A Dutch etcher and engraver of the seventeenth century, who pursued her art from pure love of it, never trying to make her works popular or to sell them. A few of her landscapes fell into the hands of collectors and are much valued for their rarity and excellence. Three examples are the "Landscape with a View of a Village," "The Square Tower," and "Huts by the Water."

KOMLOSI, IRMA. Born in Prague, 1850. Pupil of Friederich Sturm. This flower painter resides in Vienna, where her pictures are much appreciated and are seen in good collections. They have been purchased for the Art Associations of Brünn, Prague, and Budapest.

KONDELKA, BARONESS PAULINE VON --Frau von Schmerling. Born at Vienna. 1806-1840. She inherited from her father a strong inclination for art, and was placed by him under the instruction of Franz Potter. In the Royal Gallery, Vienna, is her picture called "Silence," 1834. It represents the Virgin with her finger on her lip to warn against disturbing the sleep of the Infant Jesus. The picture is surrounded by a beautiful arrangement of flowers. In 1836 she painted a charming picture called "A Bunch of Flowers." Her favorite subjects were floral, and her works of this sort are much admired.

KONEK, IDA. Born at Budapest, 1856. Her early art studies were under G. Vastagh, C. von Telepy, W. Lindenschmit, and Munkácsy; later she was a pupil at the Julian Academy in Paris and the Scuola libera in Florence. In the Parish Church at Köbölkut are three of her pictures of sacred subjects, and in the Hungarian National Museum a picture of still-life. Her "Old Woman," 1885, is mentioned as attracting favorable notice.

KORA OR CALLIRHOË. It is a well-authenticated fact that in the Greek city of Sicyonia, about the middle of the seventh century before Christ, there lived the first woman artist of whom we have a reliable account.

Her story has been often told, and runs in this wise: Kora, or Callirhoë, was much admired by the young men of Sicyonia for her grace and beauty, of which they caught but fleeting glimpses through her veil when they met her in the flower-market. By reason of Kora's attraction the studio of her father, Dibutades, was frequented by many young Greeks, who watched for a sight of his daughter, while they praised his models in clay.

At length one of these youths begged the modeller to receive him as an apprentice, and, his request being granted, he became the daily companion of both Kora and her father. As the apprentice was skilled in letters, it soon came about that he was the teacher and ere long the lover of the charming maiden, who was duly betrothed to him.

The time for the apprentice to leave his master came all too soon. As he sat with Kora the evening before his departure, she was seized by an ardent wish for a portrait of her lover, and, with a coal from the brazier, she traced upon the wall the outline of the face so dear to her. This likeness her father instantly recognized, and, hastening to bring his clay, he filled in the sketch and thus produced the first portrait in bas-relief! It is a charming thought that from the inspiration of a pure affection so beautiful an art originated, and doubtless Kora's influence contributed much to the artistic fame which her husband later achieved in Corinth.

In the latter city the portrait was preserved two hundred years, and Dibutades became so famous for the excellence of his work that at his death several cities claimed the honor of having been his birthplace.

KRAFFT, ANNA BARBARA. Member of the Vienna Academy. She was born at Igto in 1764, and died at Bamberg in 1825. She received instruction from her father, J. N. Steiner, of which she later made good use. Having married an apothecary, she went for a time to Salsburg, and again, after nine years in Prague, spent eighteen years in Salsburg, retiring finally to Bamberg. In the Gallery at Bamberg may be seen her portrait of the founder, J. Hemmerlein; in the Nostitz Gallery, Prague, a portrait of the Archduke Charles; in Strahow Abbey, Prague, a "Madonna"; and in the church at Owencez, near Prague, an altar-piece.

KUNTZE, MARTHA. Born in Heinrichsdorf, Prussia, 1849. Pupil of Steffeck and Gussow in Berlin. In 1881 she went to Paris and studied under Carolus Duran and Henner, and later travelled in Italy, pursuing her art in Florence, Rome, and Southern Italy. She has an excellent reputation as a portrait painter, and occasionally paints subjects of still-life.

KÜSSNER, AMALIA. See Coudert, Amalia Küssner.

LABILLE, ADELAIDE VERTUS. Was born in Paris in 1749. She early developed a taste for art and a desire to study it. J. E. Vincent was her master in miniature painting, while Latour instructed her in the use of pastels. She was successful as a portrait painter and as a teacher, having some members of the royal family as pupils, who so esteemed her that they became her friends. She is known as Madame Vincent, having married the son of her first master in painting.

Her portrait of the sculptor Gois gained a prize at the Academy, and in 1781 she was made a member of that institution. We know the subjects of some large, ambitious works by Madame Vincent, on which she relied for her future fame, but unhappily they were destroyed in the time of the French Revolution, and she never again had the courage to attempt to replace them. One of these represented the "Reception of a Member to the Order of St. Lazare," the Grand Master being the brother of the King, who had appointed Madame Vincent Painter to the Court. Another of these works was a portrait of the artist before her easel, surrounded by her pupils, among whom was the Duchesse d'Angoulême and other noble ladies.

As Madame Vincent and her husband were staunch royalists, they suffered serious losses during the Revolution; the loss of her pictures was irreparable. She was so disheartened by the destruction of the result of the labors of years that she never again took up her brush with her old-time ambition and devotion.

She died in 1803, at the age of fifty-four, having received many honors as an artist, while she was beloved by her friends and esteemed by all as a woman of noble character.

LAING, MRS. J. G. Principal studies made in Glasgow under Mr. F. H. Newbery; also in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens and Aman-Jean.

This artist is especially occupied with portraits of children and their mothers. She has, however, exhibited works of another sort. Her "Sweet Repose" and "Masquerading" were sold from the exhibitions in London and Glasgow, where they were shown. "Bruges Lace-Makers" was exhibited in Munich in 1903.

The Ladies' Club of Glasgow is enterprising and its exhibitions are interesting, but Mrs. Laing is not a member of any club, and sends her pictures by invitation to exhibitions on the Continent as well as in Great Britain, and sometimes has a private exhibition in Glasgow.

Her study at Aman-Jean's and Colarossi's gave a certain daintiness and grace to her work, which is more Parisian than British in style. There is great freedom in her brush and a delicacy well suited to the painting of children's portraits; her children and their mothers really smile, not grin, and are altogether attractive. I cannot say whether the portraits I have seen are good likenesses, but they have an air of individuality which favors that idea.

LAMB, ELLA CONDIE --Mrs. Charles R. Lamb. Dodge prize, National Academy, New York; medal at Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893; gold medal, Atlanta Exposition; medal at Pan-American Exposition, 1901. Member of Art Students' League, Woman's Art Club, National Art Club. Born in New York City. Pupil of National Academy of Design and of Art Students' League, New York, under C. Y. Turner, William M. Chase, and Walter Shirlaw; in Paris, pupil of R. Collin and R. Courtois; in England, of Hubert Herkomer, R.A.