Part 8

Her earliest pictures were of flowers, and during several years she had no teacher. At length she decided to study battle painting, and, after a summer under Carleton Wiggins, she went abroad, in 1890, and remained two years, painting in the schools in winter and out of doors in summer. Miss Browne exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts in 1890, and many of her works have been seen in exhibits in this country. The Dodge prize was awarded to a picture called "The Last Load," and the Hallgarten prize to "Repose," a moonlight scene with cattle. Her pictures are in private collections.

BROWN, MRS. AGNES--MRS. JOHN APPLETON BROWN. Born in Newburyport. This artist paints in oils. Her subjects are landscapes, flowers, and still life. She has also painted cats successfully.

I have a winter landscape by Mrs. Brown which is unusually attractive and is often admired. She sends her works to the exhibitions of the Boston Art Club and to some exhibitions in New York.

BROWNE, MME. HENRIETTE. Born at Paris; 1829-1901. Pupil of Chaplin. The family name of this artist was Bouteiller, and she married M. Jules de Saux, but as an artist used the name of an ancestress. Her pictures of genre subjects very early attracted attention, especially in 1855, when she sent to the Salon "A Brother of the Christian School," "School for the Poor at Aix," "Mutual Instruction," and "Rabbits." Her works were popular and brought good prices. In 1868 "The Sisters of Charity" sold for £1,320.

In 1878 she exhibited "A Grandmother" and "Convalescence." Her Oriental scenes were much admired. Among these were "A Court in Damascus," "Nubian Dancing Girls," and a "Harem in Constantinople." Mme. Browne was also skilful as an engraver.

T. Chasrel wrote in _L'Art_: "Her touch without over-minuteness has the delicacy and security of a fine work of the needle. The accent is just without that seeking for virile energy which too often spoils the most charming qualities. The sentiment is discreet without losing its intensity in order to attract public notice. The painting of Mme. Henriette Browne is at an equal distance from grandeur and insipidity, from power and affectation, and gathers from the just balance of her nature some effects of taste and charm of which a parvenu in art would be incapable."

The late Rev. Charles Kingsley wrote of the picture of the "Sisters of Charity," of the sale of which I have spoken, as follows: "The picture which is the best modern instance of this happy hitting of this golden mean, whereby beauty and homely fact are perfectly combined, is in my eyes Henrietta Browne's picture of the 'Sick Child and the Sisters of Charity.' I know not how better to show that it is easy to be at once beautiful and true, if one only knows how, than by describing that picture. Criticise it, I dare not; for I believe that it will surely be ranked hereafter among the very highest works of modern art. If I find no fault in it, it is because I have none to find; because the first sight of the picture produced in me instantaneous content and confidence. There was nothing left to wish for, nothing to argue about. The thing was what it ought to be, and neither more nor less, and I could look on it, not as a critic, but as a learner only."

This is praise indeed from an Englishman writing of a Frenchwoman's picture--an Englishman with no temptation to say what he did not think; and we may accept his words as the exact expression of the effect the picture made on him.

BRUNE, MME. AIMÉE PAGÈS. Medal of second class at Salon of 1831; first class in 1841. Born in Paris. 1803-66. Pupil of Charles Meynier. Painted historical and genre subjects. In 1831 she exhibited "Undine," the "Elopement," "Sleep," and "Awakening." In 1841 a picture of "Moses." She painted several Bible scenes, among which were the "Daughter of Jairus" and "Jephthah's Daughter."

BUECHMANN, FRAU HELENE. Her pictures have been seen at some annual exhibitions in Germany, but she is best known by her portraits of celebrated persons. Born in Berlin, 1849. Pupil of Steffeck and Gussow. Among her portraits are those of Princess Carolath-Beuthen, Countess Brühl, Prince and Princess Biron von Kurland, and the youngest son of Prince Radziwill. She resides in Brussels.

BUTLER, MILDRED A. Associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colors and of the Society of Lady Artists. Pupil of Naftel, Calderon, and Garstin. Has exhibited at the Royal Academy and New Gallery. Her picture called the "Morning Bath," exhibited at the Academy in 1896, was purchased under the Chantry Bequest and is in the Tate Gallery. It is a water-color, valued at £50.

Miss Butler exhibited "A Corner of the Bargello, Florence," at the London Academy in 1903.

[_No reply to circular_.]

BUTLER, LADY ELIZABETH. Born in Lausanne about 1844. Elizabeth Southerden Thompson. As a child this artist was fond of drawing soldiers and horses. She studied at the South Kensington School, at Florence under Bellucci, and in Rome. She worked as an amateur some years, first exhibiting at the Academy in 1873 her picture called "Missing," which was praised; but the "Roll-Call," of the following year, placed her in the front rank of the Academy exhibitors. It was purchased by the Queen and hung in Windsor Castle. She next exhibited the "Twenty-Eighth Regiment at Quatre Bras," the "Return from Inkerman," purchased by the Fine Art Society for £3,000. This was followed by kindred subjects.

In 1890 Lady Butler exhibited "Evicted," in 1891 the "Camel Corps," in 1892 "Halt in a Forced March," in 1895 the "Dawn of Waterloo," in 1896 "Steady the Drums and Fifes," in 1902 "Tent Pegging in India," in 1903 "Within Sound of the Guns."

In 1869 she painted a religious picture called the "Magnificat." In water-colors she has painted "Sketches in Tuscany" and several pictures of soldiers, among which are "Scot's Grays Advancing" and "Cavalry at a Gallop."

Lady Butler has recently appeared as an author, publishing "Letters from the Holy Land," illustrated by sixteen most attractive drawings in colors. The _Spectator_ says: "Lady Butler's letters and diary, the outcome of a few weeks' journeyings in Palestine, express simply and forcibly the impressions made on a devout and cultivated mind by the scenes of the Holy Land."

In 1875 Ruskin wrote in "Notes of the Academy": "I never approached a picture with more iniquitous prejudice against it than I did Miss Thompson's--'Quatre Bras'--partly because I have always said that no woman could paint, and secondly because I thought what the public made such a fuss about _must_ be good for nothing. But it is Amazon's work this, no doubt of it, and the first fine pre-Raphaelite picture of battle we have had; profoundly interesting, and showing all manner of illustrative and realistic faculty.... The sky is most tenderly painted, and with the truest outline of cloud of all in the Exhibition; and the terrific piece of gallant wrath and ruin on the extreme left, when the cuirassier is catching round the neck of his horse as he falls, and the convulsed fallen horse, seen through the smoke below, is wrought through all the truth of its frantic passion with gradations of color and shade which I have not seen the like of since Turner's death."

The _Art Journal_, 1877, says: "'Inkerman' is simply a marvellous production when considered as the work of a young woman who was never on the field of battle.... No matter how many figures she brings into the scene, or how few, you may notice character in each figure, each is a superb study."

Her recent picture, "Within Sound of the Guns," shows a company of mounted soldiers on the confines of a river in South Africa.

[_No reply to circular_.]

CAMERON, KATHERINE. Member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water-Colors; Modern Sketch Club, London; Ladies' Art Club, Glasgow. Born in Glasgow. Studied at Glasgow School of Art under Professor Newbery, and at the Colarossi Academy, Paris, under Raphael Collin and Gustave Courtois.

Her pictures are of genre subjects principally, and are in private collections. "'The Sea Urchin,'" Miss Cameron writes, "is in one of the public collections of Germany. I cannot remember which." She also says: "Except for my diploma R. S. W. and having my drawings sometimes in places of honor, usually on the line, and often reproduced in magazines, I have no other honors. I have no medals."

In the _Magazine of Art_, June, 1903, her picture of a "Bull Fight in Madrid" is reproduced. It is full of action and true to the life of these horrors as I have seen them in Madrid. Doubtless the color is brilliant, as the costumes of the toreadors are always so, and there are two in this picture. This work was displayed at the exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy, June, 1903--of which a writer says: "A feeling for color has always been predominant in the Scottish school, and it is here conspicuously displayed, together with a method of handling, be it in the domain of figure or landscape, which is personal to the artist and not a mere academic tradition."

In the _Studio_ of May, 1903, J. L. C., who writes of the same exhibition, calls this picture "admirable in both action and color."

CARL, KATE A. Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1890; Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, 1896; honorable mention, Paris Exposition, 1900. Associé de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Born in New Orleans. Pupil of Julian Academy and of Courtois in Paris.

This artist's name has been made prominent by the fact of her being selected to paint a portrait of the Empress of China. Miss Carl has frequently exhibited at the Salon. In 1902 she sent portraits in both oil and water-colors. One of these works, called "Angelina," impresses one as a faithful portrait of a model. She is seated and gracefully posed--the face is in a full front view, the figure turned a little to one side and nude to the waist, the hands are folded on the lap and hold a flower, a gauze-like drapery falls about the left shoulder and the arms, but does not conceal them; the background is a brocade or tapestry curtain.

I have seen a reproduction only, and cannot speak of the color. The whole effect of the picture is attractive. For the purpose of painting the portrait of the Chinese Empress, Miss Carl was assigned an apartment in the palace. It is said that the picture was to be finished in December, 1903, and will probably be seen at the St. Louis Exhibition.

[_No reply to circular_.]

CARLISLE, MISTRESS ANNE. Died in 1680. Was a favorite artist of King Charles I. It is said that on one occasion the King bought a quantity of ultramarine, for which he paid £500, and divided it between Vandyck and Mistress Carlisle. Her copies after the Italian masters were of great excellence.

She painted in oils as well as in water-colors. One of her pictures represents her as teaching a lady to use the brush. When we remember that Charles, who was so constantly in contact with Vandyck, could praise Mistress Carlisle, we must believe her to have been a good painter.

Mistress Anne has sometimes been confounded with the Countess of Carlisle, who was distinguished as an engraver of the works of Salvator Rosa, etc.

CARPENTER, MARGARET SARAH. The largest gold medal and other honors from the Society of Arts, London. Born at Salisbury, England. 1793-1872. Pupil of a local artist in Salisbury when quite young. Lord Radnor's attention was called to her talent, and he permitted her to copy in the gallery of Longford Castle, and advised her sending her pictures to London, and later to go there herself. She made an immediate success as a portrait painter, and from 1814 during fifty-two years her pictures were annually exhibited at the Academy with a few rare exceptions.

Her family name was Geddis; her husband was Keeper of the Prints and Drawings in the British Museum more than twenty years, and after his death his wife received a pension of £100 a year in recognition of his services.

Her portraits were considered excellent as likenesses; her touch was firm, her color brilliant, and her works in oils and water-colors as well as her miniatures were much esteemed. Many of them were engraved. Her portrait of the sculptor Gibson is in the National Portrait Gallery, London. A life-size portrait of Anthony Stewart, miniature painter, called "Devotion," and the "Sisters," portraits of Mrs. Carpenter's daughters, with a picture of "Ockham Church," are at South Kensington.

She painted a great number of portraits of titled ladies which are in the collections of their families. Among the more remarkable were those of Lady Eastnor, 1825; Lady King, daughter of Lord Byron, 1835; Countess Ribblesdale, etc.

Her portraits of Fraser Tytler, John Girkin, and Bonington are in the National Portrait Gallery, London. In the South Kensington Gallery are her pictures of "Devotion--St. Francis," which is a life-size study of Anthony Stewart, the miniature painter; "The Sisters," "Ockham Church," and "An Old Woman Spinning."

CARPENTIER, MLLE. MADELEINE. Honorable mention, 1890; third-class medal, 1896. Born in Paris, 1865. Pupil of Bonnefoy and of Jules Lefebvre at the Julian Academy. Since 1885 this artist has exhibited many portraits as well as flower and fruit pieces, these last in water-colors. In 1896 her pictures were the "Communicants" and the "Candles," a pastel, purchased by the city of Paris; "Among Friends" is in the Museum of Bordeaux.

At the Salon of the Artistes Français, 1902, Mlle. Carpentier exhibited a picture called "Reflection," and in 1903 a portrait of Mme. L. T. and the "Little Goose-Herders."

CARRIERA, ROSALBA , better known as Rosalba. Born in Venice 1675-1757--and had an eventful life. Her artistic talent was first manifested in lace-weaving, which as a child she preferred before any games or amusements. She studied painting under several masters, technique under Antonio Balestra, pastel-painting with Antonio Nazari and Diamantini, and miniature painting, in which she was especially distinguished, was taught her by her brother-in-law, Antonio Pellegrini, whom she later accompanied to Paris and London and assisted in the decorative works he executed there.

Rosalba's fame in Venice was such that she was invited to the courts of France and Austria, where she painted many portraits. She was honored by election to the Academies of Rome, Bologna, and Paris.

This artist especially excelled in portraits of pretty women, while her portraits of men were well considered. Among the most important were those of the Emperor Charles, the kings of France and Denmark, and many other distinguished persons, both men and women.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany asked for her own portrait for his gallery. She represented herself with one of her sisters. Her face is noble and most expressive, but, like many of her pictures, while the head is spirited and characteristic, the rest of the figure and the accessories are weak. A second portrait of herself--in crayons--is in the Dresden Gallery, and is very attractive.

While in England Rosalba painted many portraits in crayon and pastel, in which art she was not surpassed by any artist of her day.

Her diary of two years in Paris was published in Venice. It is curious and interesting, as it sets forth the customs of society, and especially those of artists of the period.

Returning to Venice, Rosalba suffered great depression and was haunted by a foreboding of calamity. She lived very quietly. In his "Storia della Pittura Veneziana," Zanetti writes of her at this time: "Much of interest may be written of this celebrated and highly gifted woman, whose spirit, in the midst of her triumphs and the brightest visions of happiness, was weighed down by the anticipation of a heavy calamity. On one occasion she painted a portrait of herself, the brow wreathed with leaves which symbolized death. She explained this as an image of the sadness in which her life would end."

Alas, this was but too prophetic! Before she was fifty years old she lost her sight, and gradually the light of reason also, and her darkness was complete.

An Italian writer tells the following story: "Nature had endowed Rosalba with lofty aspirations and a passionate soul; her heart yearned for the admiration which her lack of personal attraction forbade her receiving. She fully realized her plainness before the Emperor Charles XI. rudely brought it home to her. When presented to him by the artist Bertoli, the Emperor exclaimed: 'She may be clever, Bertoli mio, this painter of thine, but she is remarkably ugly.' From which it would appear that Charles had not believed his mirror, since his ugliness far exceeded that of Rosalba! Her dark eyes, fine brow, good expression, and graceful pose of the head, as shown in her portrait, impress one more favorably than would be anticipated from this story."

Many of Rosalba's works have been reproduced by engravings; a collection of one hundred and fifty-seven of these are in the Dresden Gallery, together with several of her pictures.

CASSATT, MARY. Born in Pittsburg. Studied in Pennsylvania schools, and under Soyer and Bellay in Paris. She has lived and travelled much in Europe, and her pictures, which are of genre subjects, include scenes in France, Italy, Spain, and Holland.

Among her principal works are "La tasse de thé," "Le lever du bébé," "Reading," "Mère et Enfant," and "Caresse Maternelle."

Miss Cassatt has exhibited at the Paris Salon, the National Academy, New York, and various other exhibitions, but her works are rarely if ever exhibited in recent days. It is some years since William Walton wrote of her: "But in general she seems to have attained that desirable condition, coveted by artists, of being able to dispense with the annual exhibitions."

Miss Cassatt executed a large, decorative picture for the north tympanum of the Woman's Building at the Columbian Exhibition.

A writer in the _Century Magazine_, March, 1899, says: "Of the colony of American artists, who for a decade or two past have made Paris their home, few have been more interesting and none more serious than Miss Cassatt.... Miss Cassatt has found her true bent in her recent pictures of children and in the delineation of happy maternity. These she has portrayed with delicacy, refinement, and sentiment. Her technique appeals equally to the layman and the artist, and her color has all the tenderness and charm that accompanies so engaging a motif."

In November, 1903, Miss Cassatt held an exhibition of her works in New York. At the winter exhibition of the Philadelphia Academy, 1904, she exhibited a group, a mother and children, one child quite nude. Arthur Hoeber described it as "securing great charm of manner, of color, and of grace."

CATTANEO, MARIA. Bronze medal at the National Exposition, Parma, 1870; silver medal at Florence, 1871; silver medal at the centenary of Ariosto at Ferrara. Made an honorary member of the Brera Academy, Milan, 1874, an honor rarely conferred on a woman; elected to the Academy of Urbino, 1875. Born in Milan. Pupil of her father and of Angelo Rossi.

She excels in producing harmony between all parts of her works. She has an exquisite sense of color and a rare technique. Good examples of her work are "The Flowers of Cleopatra," "The Return from the Country," "An Excursion by Gondola." She married the artist, Pietro Michis. Her picture of the "Fish Market in Venice" attracted much attention when it appeared in 1887; it was a most accurate study from life.

CHARPENTIER, CONSTANCE MARIE. Pupil of David. Her best known works were "Ulysses Finding Young Astyanax at Hector's Grave" and "Alexander Weeping at the Death of the Wife of Darius." These were extraordinary as the work of a woman. Their size, with the figures as large as life, made them appear to be ambitious, as they were certainly unusual. Her style was praised by the admirers of David, to whose teaching she did credit. The disposition of her figures was good, the details of her costumes and accessories were admirably correct, but her color was hard and she was generally thought to be wanting in originality and too close a follower of her master.

CHARRETIE, ANNA MARIA. 1819-75. Her first exhibitions at the Royal Academy, London, were miniatures and flower pieces. Later she painted portraits and figure subjects, as well as flowers. In 1872 "Lady Betty Germain" was greatly admired for the grace of the figure and the exquisite finish of the details. In 1873 she exhibited "Lady Betty's Maid" and "Lady Betty Shopping." "Lady Teazle Behind the Screen" was dated 1871, and "Mistress of Herself tho' China Fall" was painted and exhibited in the last year of her life.

CHASE, ADELAIDE COLE. Member of Art Students' Association. Born in Boston. Daughter of J. Foxcroft Cole. Studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, under Tarbell, and also under Jean Paul Laurens and Carolus Duran in Paris; and with Vinton in Boston.

Mrs. Chase has painted portraits entirely, most of which are in or near Boston; her artistic reputation among painters of her own specialty is excellent, and her portraits are interesting aside from the persons represented, when considered purely as works of art.

A portrait called a "Woman with a Muff," exhibited recently at the exhibition of the Society of American Artists, in New York, was much admired. At the 1904 exhibition of the Philadelphia Academy Mrs. Chase exhibited a portrait of children, Constance and Gordon Worcester, of which Arthur Hoeber writes: "She has painted them easily, with deftness and feeling, and apparently caught their character and the delicacy of infancy."

CHAUCHET, CHARLOTTE. Honorable mention at the Salon, 1901; third-class medal, 1902. Member of the Société des Artistes Français and of l'Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs. Born at Charleville, Ardennes, in 1878. Pupil of Gabriel Thurner, Benjamin-Constant, Jean Paul Laurens, and Victor Marec. Her principal works are "Marée"--Fish--1899, purchased for the lottery of the International Exposition at Lille; "Breton Interior," purchased by the Society of the Friends of the Arts, at Nantes; "Mother Closmadenc Dressing Fish," in the Museum of Brest; "Interior of a Kitchen at Mont," purchased by the Government; "Portrait of my Grandmother," which obtained honorable mention; "At the Corner of the Fire," "A Little Girl in the Open Air," medal of third class.

The works of Mlle. Chauchet have been much praised. The _Petit Moniteur_, June, 1899, says: "Mlle. Chauchet, a very young girl, in her picture of a 'Breton Interior' shows a vigor and decision very rare in a woman." Of the "Marée," the _Dépêche de Brest_ says: "On a sombre background, in artistic disorder, thrown pell-mell on the ground, are baskets and a shining copper kettle, with a mass of fish of all sorts, of varied forms, and changing colors. All well painted. Such is the picture by Mlle. Chauchet."

In the _Courrier de l'Est_ we read: "Mlle. Chauchet, taking her grandmother for her model, has painted one of the best portraits of the Salon. The hands, deformed by disease and age, are especially effective; the delicate tone of the hair in contrast with the lace of the cap makes an attractive variation in white."