Chapter 9

In the _Union Républicaine de la Marne_, H. Bernard writes: "'Le retour des champs' is a picture of the plain of Berry at evening. We see the back of a peasant, nude above the blue linen pantaloons, with the feet in wooden sabots. He is holding his tired, heavy cow by the tether. The setting sun lights up his powerful bronzed back, his prominent shoulders, and the hindquarters of the cow. It is all unusually strong; the drawing is firm and very bold in the foreshortening of the animal. The effect of the whole is a little sad; the sobriety of the execution emphasizes this effect, and, above all, there is in it no suggestion of the feminine. I have already noticed this quality of almost brutal sincerity, of picturesque realism, in the works of Mlle. Chauchet who successfully follows her methods."

Chaussée, Mlle. Cécile de.

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CHÉRON, ELIZABETH SOPHIE. Born in Paris in 1648. Her father was an artist, and under his instruction Elizabeth attained such perfection in miniature and enamel painting that her works were praised by the most distinguished artists. In 1674 Charles le Brun proposed her name and she was elected to the Academy.

Her exquisite taste in the arrangement of her subjects, the grace of her draperies, and, above all, the refinement and spirituality of her pictures, were the characteristics on which her fame was based.

Her life outside her art was interesting. Her father was a rigid Calvinist, and endeavored to influence his daughter to adopt his religious belief; but her mother, who was a fervent Roman Catholic, persuaded Elizabeth to pass a year in a convent, during which time she ardently embraced the faith of her mother. She was an affectionate daughter to both her parents and devoted her earnings to her brother Louis, who made his studies in Italy.

In her youth Elizabeth Chéron seemed insensible to the attractions of the brilliant men in her social circle, and was indifferent to the offers of marriage which she received; but when sixty years old, to the surprise of her friends, she married Monsieur Le Hay, a gentleman of her own age. One of her biographers, leaving nothing to the imagination, assures us that "substantial esteem and respect were the foundations of their matrimonial happiness, rather than any pretence of romantic sentiment."

Mlle. Chéron's narrative verse was much admired and her spiritual poetry was thought to resemble that of J. B. Rousseau. In 1699 she was elected to the Accademia dei Ricovrati of Padua, where she was known as Erato. The honors bestowed on her did not lessen the modesty of her bearing. She was simple in dress, courteous in her intercourse with her inferiors, and to the needy a helpful friend.

She died when sixty-three and was buried in the church of St. Sulpice. I translate the lines written by the Abbé Bosquillon and placed beneath her portrait: "The unusual possession of two exquisite talents will render Chéron an ornament to France for all time. Nothing save the grace of her brush could equal the excellencies of her pen."

Pictures by this artist are seen in various collections in France, but the larger number of her works were portraits which are in the families of her subjects.

CHERRY, EMMA RICHARDSON. Gold medal from Western Art Association in 1891. Member of above association and of the Denver Art Club. Born at Aurora, Illinois, 1859. Pupil of Julian and Delécluse Academies in Paris, also of Merson, and of the Art Students' League in New York.

Mrs. Cherry is a portrait painter, and in 1903 was much occupied in this art in Chicago and vicinity. Among her sitters were Mr. Orrington Lunt, the donor of the Library of the Northwestern University, and Bishop Foster, a former president of the same university; these are to be placed in the library. A portrait by Mrs. Cherry of a former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Mr. O. Chanute, is to be placed in the club rooms of the society in New York. It has been done at the request of the society.

An exhibition of ten portraits by this artist was held in Chicago in 1903, and was favorably noticed. Mrs. Cherry resides in Houston, Texas.

CLEMENT, ETHEL. This artist has received several awards from California State fair exhibits, and her pastel portrait of her mother was hung on the line at the Salon of 1898. Member of San Francisco Art Association and of the Sketch Club of that city. Born in San Francisco in 1874. Her studies began in her native city with drawing from the antique and from life under Fred Yates. At the Cowles Art School, Boston, and the Art Students' League, New York, she spent three winters, and at the Julian Academy, Paris, three other winters, drawing from life and painting in oils under the teaching of Jules Lefebvre and Robert-Fleury, supplementing these studies by that of landscape in oils under George Laugée in Picardie.

Her portraits, figure subjects, and landscapes are numerous, and are principally in private collections, a large proportion being in San Francisco. Her recent work has been landscape painting in New England. In 1903 she exhibited a number of pictures in Boston which attracted favorable attention.

COHEN, KATHERINE M. Honorary member of the American Art Association, Paris, and of the New Century Club, Philadelphia. Born in Philadelphia, 1859. Pupil of School of Design, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and of St. Gaudens at Art Students' League; also six years in Paris schools.

This artist executed a portrait of General Beaver for the Smith Memorial in Fairmount Park. She has made many portraits in busts and bas-reliefs, as well as imaginary subjects and decorative works. "The Israelite" is a life-size statue and an excellent work.

COLLAERT, MARIE. Born in Brussels, 1842. Is called the Flemish Rosa Bonheur and the Muse of Belgian landscape. Her pictures of country life are most attractive. Her powerful handling of her brush is modified by a tender, feminine sentiment.

I quote from the "History of Modern Painters": "In Marie Collaert's pictures may be found quiet nooks beneath clear sky-green stretches of grass where the cows are at pasture in idyllic peace. Here is to be found the cheery freshness of country life."

COMAN, CHARLOTTE B. Bronze medal, California Mid-Winter Exposition, 1894. Member of New York Water-Color Club. Born in Waterville, N. Y. Pupil of J. R. Brevoort in America, of Harry Thompson and Émile Vernier in Paris. This artist has painted landscapes, and sent to the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 "A French Village"; to the Paris Exposition, 1878, "Near Fontainebleau." In 1877 and 1878 she exhibited in Boston, "On the Borders of the Marne" and "Peasant House in Normandy."

[_No reply to circular_.]

COMERRE-PATON, MME. JACQUELINE. Honorable mention, 1881; medal at Versailles; officer of the Academy. Born at Paris, 1859. Pupil of Cabanel. Her principal works are: "Peau d'Ane, Hollandaise," in the Museum of Lille; "Song of the Wood," Museum of Morlaix; "Mignon," portrait of Mlle. Ugalde; the "Haymaker," etc.

COOKESLEY, MARGARET MURRAY. Decorated by the Sultan of Turkey with the Order of the Chefakat, and with the Medaille des Beaux Arts, also a Turkish honor. Medal for the "Lion Tamers in the Time of Nero." Member of the Empress Club. Born in Dorsetshire. Studied in Brussels under Leroy and Gallais, and spent a year at South Kensington in the study of anatomy. Mrs. Cookesley has lived in Newfoundland and in San Francisco. A visit to Constantinople brought her a commission to paint a portrait of the son of the Sultan. No sittings were accorded her, the Sultan thinking a photograph sufficient for the artist to work from. Fortunately Mrs. Cookesley was able to make a sketch of her subject while following the royal carriage in which he was riding. The portrait proved so satisfactory to the Sultan that he not only decorated the artist, but invited her to make portraits of some of his wives, for which Mrs. Cookesley had not time. Her pictures of Oriental subjects have been successful. Among these are: "An Arab Café in the Slums of Cairo," much noticed in the Academy Exhibition of 1895; "Noon at Ramazan," "The Snake-Charmer," "Umbrellas to Mend--Damascus," and a group of the "Soudanese Friends of Gordon." Her "Priestess of Isis" is owned in Cairo.

Among her pictures of Western subjects are "The Puritan's Daughter," "Deliver Us from Evil," "The Gambler's Wife." "Widowed" and "Miss Calhoun as Salome" were purchased by Maclean, of the Haymarket Theatre; "Death of the First-Born" is owned in Russia; and "Portrait of Ellen Terry as Imogen" is in a private collection.

"Lion Tamers in the Time of Nero" is one of her important pictures of animals, of which she has made many sketches.

COOPER, EMMA LAMPERT. Awarded medal at World's Columbian Exposition, 1893; bronze medal, Atlanta Exposition, 1895. Member of Water-Color Club and Woman's Art Club, New York; Water-Color Club and Plastic Club, Philadelphia; Woman's Art Association, Canada; Women's International Art Club, London.

Born in Nunda, N. Y. Studied under Agnes D. Abbatt at Cooper Union and at the Art Students' League, New York; in Paris under Harry Thompson and at Delécluse and Colarossi Academies.

Mrs. Cooper's work is principally in water-colors. After several years abroad, in the spring of 1903 she exhibited twenty-two pictures, principally of Dutch interiors, with some sketches in English towns, which last, being more unusual, were thought her best work. Her picture, "Mother Claudius," is in the collection of Walter J. Peck, New York; "High Noon at Cape Ann" is owned by W. B. Lockwood, New York; and a "Holland Interior" by Dr. Gessler, Philadelphia. Of her recent exhibition a critic writes: "The pictures are notable for their careful attention to detail of drawing. Architectural features of the rich old Gothic churches are faithfully indicated instead of blurred, and the treatment is almost devotional in tone, so sympathetic is the quality of the work. There is a total absence of the garish coloring which has become so common, the religious subjects being without exception in a minor key, usually soft grays and blues. It is indeed in composition and careful drawing that this artist excels rather than in coloring, although this afterthought is suggested by the canvasses treating of secular subjects."--_Brooklyn Standard Union_.

CORAZZI, GIULITTA. Born at Fivizzano, 1866. Went to Florence when still a child and early began to study art. She took a diploma at the Academy in 1886, having been a pupil of Cassioli. She is a portrait painter, and among her best works are the portraits of the Counts Francesco and Ottorino Tenderini, Giuseppe Erede, and Raffaello Morvanti. Her pictures of flowers are full of freshness and spirit and delightful in color. Since 1885 she has spent much time in teaching in the public schools and other institutions and in private families.

CORRELLI, CLEMENTINA. Member of the Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, in Naples. Born in Lesso, 1840. This artist is both a painter and a sculptor. Pupil of Biagio Molinari, she supplemented his instructions by constant visits to galleries and museums, where she could study masterpieces of art. A statue called "The Undeceived" and a group, "The Task," did much to establish her reputation. They were exhibited in Naples, Milan, and Verona, and aroused widespread interest.

Her pictures are numerous. Among them are "St. Louis," "Sappho," "Petrarch and Laura," "Romeo and Juliet," "Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert," "A Devotee of the Virgin," exhibited at Turin in 1884; a series illustrating the "Seasons," and four others representing the arts.

COSWAY, MARIA . The artist known by this name was born Maria Hadfield, the daughter of an Englishman who acquired a fortune as a hotel-keeper in Leghorn, which was Maria's birthplace. She was educated in a convent, and early manifesting unusual artistic ability, was sent to Rome to study painting. Her friends there, among whom were Battoni, Raphael Mengs, and Fuseli, found much to admire and praise in her art.

After her father's death Maria ardently desired to become a nun, but her mother persuaded her to go to England. Here she came under the influence of Angelica Kauffman, and devoted herself assiduously to painting.

She married Richard Cosway, an eminent painter of miniatures in water-colors. Cosway was a man of fortune with a good position in the fashionable circles of London. For a time after their marriage Maria lived in seclusion, her husband wishing her to acquire the dignity and grace requisite for success in the society which he frequented. Meantime she continued to paint in miniature, and her pictures attracted much attention in the Academy exhibitions.

When at length Cosway introduced her to the London world, she was greatly admired; her receptions were crowded, and the most eminent people sat to her for their portraits. Her picture of the Duchess of Devonshire in the character of Spenser's Cynthia was very much praised. Cosway did not permit her to be paid for her work, and as a consequence many costly gifts were made her in return for her miniatures, which were regarded as veritable treasures by their possessors.

Maria Cosway had a delicious voice in singing, which, in addition to her other talent, her beauty, and grace, made her unusually popular in society, and her house was a centre for all who had any pretensions to a place in the best circles. Poets, authors, orators, lords, ladies, diplomats, as well as the Prince of Wales, were to be seen in her drawing-rooms. A larger house was soon required for the Cosways, and the description of it in "Nollekens and His Times" is interesting:

"Many of the rooms were more like scenes of enchantment pencilled by a poet's fancy, than anything perhaps before displayed in a domestic habitation. Escritoires of ebony, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and rich caskets for antique gems, exquisitely enamelled and adorned with onyx, opals, rubies, and emeralds; cabinets of ivory, curiously wrought; mosaic tables, set with jasper, blood-stone, and lapis-lazuli, their feet carved into the claws of lions and eagles; screens of old raised Oriental Japan; massive musical clocks, richly chased with ormulu and tortoise-shell; ottomans superbly damasked; Persian and other carpets, with corresponding hearth-rugs bordered with ancient family crests and armorial ensigns in the centre, and rich hangings of English tapestry. The carved chimney-pieces were adorned with the choicest bronzes and models in wax and terra-cotta. The tables were covered with Sèvres, blue Mandarin, Nankin, and Dresden china, and the cabinets were surmounted with crystal cups, adorned with the York and Lancaster roses, which might have graced the splendid banquets of the proud Wolsey."

In the midst of all this fatiguing luxury, Maria Cosway lost her health and passed several years travelling in Europe. Returning to London, she was again prostrated by the death of her only daughter. She then went to Lodi, near Milan, where she founded a college for the education of girls. She spent much time in Lodi, and after the death of her husband established herself there permanently. A goodly circle of friends gathered about her, and she found occupation and solace for her griefs in the oversight of her college.

She continued her painting and the exhibition of her pictures at the Royal Academy. She made illustrations for the works of Virgil, Homer, Spenser, and other poets, and painted portraits of interesting and distinguished persons, among whom were Mme. Le Brun and Mme. Récamier. The life and work of Maria Cosway afford a striking contradiction of the theory that wealth and luxury induce idleness and dull the powers of their possessors. Hers is but one of the many cases in which a woman's a woman "for a' that."

At an art sale in London in 1901, an engraving by V. Green after Mrs. Cosway's portrait of herself, first state, brought $1,300, and a second one $200 less.

COUDERT, AMALIA KÜSSNER. Born in Terre Haute, Indiana. This distinguished miniaturist writes me that she "never studied." Like Topsy, she must have "growed." By whatever method they are produced or by whatever means the artist in her has been evolved, her pictures would seem to prove that study of a most intelligent order has done its part in her development.

She has executed miniature portraits of the Czar and Czarina of Russia, the Grand Duchess Vladimir, King Edward VII., the late Cecil Rhodes, many English ladies of rank, and a great number of the beautiful and fashionable women of America.

COUTAN-MONTORGUEIL, MME. LAURE MARTIN. Honorable mention, Salon des Artistes Français, 1894. Born at Dun-sur-Auron, Cher. Pupil of Alfred Boucher.

This sculptor has executed the monument to André Gill, Père Lachaise; that of the Poet Moreau, in the cemetery Montparnasse; bust of Taglioni, in the foyer of the Grand Opera House, Paris; bust of the astronomer Leverrier, at the Institute, Paris; a statue, "The Spring," Museum of Bourges; "Sirius," in the Palais of the Governor of Algiers. Also busts of Prince Napoleon, General Boulanger, the Countess de Choiseul, the Countess de Vogué, and numerous statuettes and other compositions.

At the Salon, Artistes Français, 1903, she exhibited "Fortune" and "A Statuette."

COWLES, GENEVIEVE ALMEDA. Member of the Woman's Art Club, New York; Club of Women Art Workers, New York; and the Paint and Clay Club of New Haven. Born in Farmington, Connecticut, 1871. Pupil of Robert Brandagee; of the Cowles Art School, Boston; and of Professor Niemeyer at the Yale Art School.

Together with her twin sister, Maud, this artist has illustrated various magazine articles. Also several books, among which are "The House of the Seven Gables," "Old Virginia," etc.

Miss G. A. Cowles designed a memorial window and a decorative border for the chancel of St. Michael's Church, Brooklyn. Together with her sister, she designed a window in the memory of the Deaconess, Miss Stillman, in Grace Church, New York City. These sisters now execute many windows and other decorative work for churches, and also superintend the making and placing of the windows.

Regarding their work in the Chapel of Christ Church, New Haven, Miss Genevieve Cowles writes me: "These express the Prayer of the Prisoner, the Prayer of the Soul in Darkness, and the Prayer of Old Age. These are paintings of states of the soul and of deep emotions. The paintings are records of human lives and not mere imagination. We study our characters directly from life."

These artists are now, November, 1903, engaged upon a landscape frieze for a dining-room in a house at Watch Hill.

Miss Genevieve Cowles writes: "We feel that we are only at the beginning of our life-work, which is to be chiefly in mural decoration and stained glass. I desire especially to work for prisons, hospitals, and asylums--for those whose great need of beauty seems often to be forgotten."

COWLES, MAUD ALICE. Twin sister of Genevieve Cowles. Bronze medal at Paris Exposition, 1900, and a medal at Buffalo, 1901. Her studies were the same as her sister's, and she is a member of the same societies. Indeed, what has been said above is equally true of the two sisters, as they usually work on the same windows and decorations, dividing the designing and execution between them.

COX, LOUISE--MRS. KENYON COX. Third Hallgarten prize, National Academy of Design; bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1900; silver medal at Buffalo, 1901; medal at Charleston, 1902; Shaw Memorial prize, Society of American Artists, 1903. Member of Society of American Artists, and an associate of the Academy of Design. Born at San Francisco, 1865. Studies made at Academy of Design, Art Students' League, under C. Turner, George de Forest Brush, and Kenyon Cox.

Mrs. Cox paints small decorative pictures and portraits, mostly of children. The Shaw prize was awarded to a child's portrait, called "Olive." Among other subjects she has painted an "Annunciation," the "Fates," and "Angiola," reproduced in this book.

A writer in the _Cosmopolitan_ says: "Mrs. Cox is an earnest worker and her method is interesting. Each picture is the result of many sketches and the study of many models, representing in a composite way the perfections of all. For the Virgin in her 'Annunciation' a model was first posed in the nude, and then another draped, the artist sketching the figure in the nude, draping it from the second model. The hands are always separately sketched from a model who has a peculiar grace in folding them naturally."

Mrs. Cox gives her ideas about her picture of the "Fates" as follows: "My interpretation of the Fates is not the one usually accepted. The idea took root in my mind years ago when I was a student at the League. It remained urgently with me until I was forced to work it out. As you see, the faces of the Fates are young and beautiful, but almost expressionless. The heads are drooping, the eyes heavy as though half asleep. My idea is, that they are merely instruments under the control of a higher power. They perform their work, they must do it without will or wish of their own. It would be beyond human or superhuman endurance for any conscious instrument to bear for ages and ages the horrible responsibility placed upon the Fates."

CRESPO DE REIGON, ASUNCION. Honorable mention at the National Exhibition, Madrid, 1860. Member of the Academy of San Fernando, 1839. Pupil of her father. To the exhibition in 1860 she sent a "Magdalen in the Desert," "The Education of the Virgin," "The Divine Shepherdess," "A Madonna," and a "Venus." Her works have been seen in many public exhibitions. In 1846 she exhibited a miniature of Queen Isabel II. Many of her pictures are in private collections.

CROMENBURCH, ANNA VON. In the Museum of Madrid are four portraits by this artist: "A Lady of the Netherlands," which belonged to Philip IV.; "A Lady and Child," "A Lady with her Infant before Her," and another "Portrait of a Lady." The catalogue of the Museum gallery says: "It is not known in what place or in what year this talented lady was born. She is said to have belonged to an old and noble family of Friesland. At any rate, she was an excellent portrait painter, and flourished about the end of the sixteenth century. The Museo del Prado is the only gallery in Europe which possesses works signed by this distinguished artist."

DAHN-FRIES, SOPHIE. Born in Munich. 1835-98. This artist was endowed with unusual musical and artistic talent. After the education of her only son, she devoted herself to painting, principally of landscape and flowers. After 1868, so long as she lived she was much interested in Frau von Weber's Art School for Girls. In 1886, when a financial crisis came, Mme. Dahn-Fries saved the enterprise from ruin. She exhibited, in 1887, two pictures which are well known--"Harvest Time" and "Forest Depths."

DAMER, MRS. ANNE SEYMOUR. Family name Conway. 1748-1828. She was a granddaughter of the Duke of Argyle, a relative of the Marquis of Hertford, and a cousin of Horace Walpole. Her education was conducted with great care; the history of ancient nations, especially in relation to art, was her favorite study. She had seen but few sculptures, but was fascinated by them, and almost unconsciously cherished the idea that she could at least model portraits and possibly give form to original conceptions.