THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Unfavorable Circumstances for Painting in Germany.--Effects of the
Thirty Years’ War.--The national Love of Art shown by the Signs of
Life manifested.--Influence of the Reformation.--Inferiority of
German Art in this Century.--Ladies of Rank in Literature.--A female
Astronomer.--The Fame of Schurmann awakens Emulation.--Distinguished
Women.--Commencement of poetic Orders.--Zesen, the Patron of the
Sex.--Women who cultivated Art.--Paintresses of Nuremberg.--Barbara
Helena Lange.--Flower-painters and Engravers.--Modeling in Wax.--Women
Artists in Augsburg.--In Munich.--In Hamburg.--The Princess
Hollandina.--Her Paintings.--Maria Sibylla Merian.--Early Fondness
for Insects.--Maternal Opposition.--Her Marriage.--Publication
of her first Work.--Joins the Labadists.--Returns to the
Butterflies.--Curiosity to see American Insects.--Voyage to
Surinam.--Story of the Lantern-flies.--Return to Holland.--Her Works
published.--Republication in Paris afterward.--Her Daughters.--Her
personal Appearance.--The Danish Women Artists.--Anna Crabbe.--King’s
Daughters.--The Taste in Art in Denmark and England governed by
that of foreign Nations.--Female Artists in England.--The Poetesses
most prominent.--Miniaturists.--Portrait-painters.--Etchers.--Lady
Connoisseurs.--The Dwarf’s Daughter.--Anna Carlisle.--Mary
Beale.--Pupil of Sir Peter Lely.--Character of her Works.--Rumor
of Lely’s Attachment to her.--Poems in her Praise.--Mr.
Beale’s Note-books.--Anne Killegrew.--Her Portraits of the
Royal Family.--History and still-life Pieces.--Her Portrait by
Lely.--Her Character.--Dryden’s Ode to her Memory.--Her Poems
published.--Mademoiselle Rosée.--The Artist in Silk.--Wonderful
Effects.--Her Works Curiosities.--The Artist of the Scissors.--Her
singular imitative Powers.--A Copyist of old Paintings.--Her
Cuttings.--Views of all kinds done with the Scissors.--Royal and
imperial Visitors.--Her Trophy for the Emperor Leopold.--Poems in
her Praise.--The Swiss Paintress Anna Wasser.--Her Education and
Works.--Commissions from Courts.--Her Father’s Avarice.--Sojourn at a
Court.--Return home.--Fatal Accident.--Her literary Accomplishments.
While in the Netherlands, under the influence of the national
elevation, art grew into a school of peculiar nationality, much less
favorable circumstances existed in Germany. It may be said, indeed,
that none less favorable could be found in any country. It was not
merely that the land had been wasted by the Thirty Years’ War, for art
and knowledge have been known to bud and bloom amid a severe national
struggle. This contest, however, was one hostile to every generous
impulse and lofty aspiration, and tended to crush the noble energies
that are called forth in other conflicts. It was an internecine and
sordid strife; Germans were arrayed against Germans, and hordes of
foreign robbers were encouraged to plunder the country desolated by her
own children. In the reign of mean and base passions, there was no soil
where such flowers might bloom as then made beautiful the Netherlands.
There was wanting, also, such a central point as was afforded in France
and Spain by the courts of Versailles and Madrid. All things revolved
in a narrow and sordid sphere of individual interest. That Germany, in
spite of this disastrous and gloomy condition, should have produced
artists, and that even women, with self-sacrificing zeal should have
manifested their predilection for the calling, is a proof of the deep
love for art implanted in the heart of the nation, showing itself in
brilliant flashes during the sixteenth century, and in the midst of
troubles not entirely extinguished. The Reformation, while it had
inspired Germany with the spirit of a new epoch, at first assumed a
position hostile to the arts that had contributed to embellish the old
faith. For three hundred years, by open force, blind fury, and cold
contempt, this misapprehension of the true scope of art threatened
to destroy what preceding ages had left of excellence; nor did the
struggle terminate till the nineteenth century.
Signs of life in art had been first perceived in Germany toward the
beginning of the thirteenth century; and there had been progressive
stages of improvement. The stiffness and seriousness prescribed by
tradition were replaced by softer execution and an easier flow of
outline. Flowing drapery and grace marked the earliest attempts to
express the artist’s own feelings in his works, and a subjective
principle was allowed in paintings.
In the revival of art toward the end of the fifteenth century the
sacred subjects of earlier ages had been much chosen. Afterward, the
artist’s own mind and emotions came forth in self-productive energy;
and, at a later period, rose into favor the accurate delineations of
nature’s forms.
The inferiority of Germany in an artistic view, in the seventeenth
century, is undeniable; but many were found who longed after the
excellence of which other lands could boast. Women there were in
abundance who cultivated ornamental literature; noble ladies and
princesses patronized poets and courted the muses. Henrietta of Orange,
the consort of the great Elector, was one of several royal dames yet
remembered in their sacred songs. The lower orders could boast their
cultivated women; and the name of Maria Cunitz deserves mention as
learned in the science of astronomy.
The fame of Anna Memorata, Fulvia Morata, and Anna Maria Schurmann
meanwhile filled the German women with emulative desire to inscribe
their names beside those accomplished persons. Gertrude Möller was
learned in the languages, and Sibylla Schwarz in poetry. Even Rist, who
excluded women from his literary society, corresponded with the poetess
Maria Commer.
This was the beginning of honorary poetic orders, and women were not
excluded from these, especially from those established by Zesen. He was
the patron and encourager of female genius and enterprise; his pen was
dedicated to the service of the sex, and his praises were reciprocated
by the grateful fair. In his “Lustinne” he sings of the lady poets of
his day.
The female artists of that time seemed, indeed, to lack such generous
appreciation; and it may be that the enthusiastic eulogies lavished by
poets on each other had a selfish aim. Yet the period was not without
a goodly number of women who cultivated art, and it is not improbable
that the success of the poetesses had some effect in stimulating their
zeal. The example of the illustrious Schurmann, who wore the double
wreath of both branches of study, was before their eyes; and the Dutch
school had much influence in forming tastes in Germany.
The love of exercising creative power naturally developed itself in
various ways. Nuremberg, the seat of the Pegnitzschäfer order of
bards; Hamburg, the residence of the chivalrous Zesen; Saxony, where
flourished many fair devotees to literature--were not abandoned by the
spirit of art. In the first-mentioned city we hear of two paintresses
descended from families celebrated for artistic excellence: Susannah
Maria von Sandrart, who also did etching in copper; and Esther Juvenel,
who drew plans for architecture. To these may be added the name of
Barbara Helena Lange, who earned celebrity by engraving on copper, and
carving figures in ivory and alabaster. She was admitted to the Pegnitz
order, on account of her poetical talent, in 1679, her poetical name
being entered as Erone. In 1686 she married one Kopsch, and with him
removed to Berlin, and afterward to Amsterdam.
The names of Maria Clara Eimart and Magdalena Fürst may here be
mentioned as flower-painters; that of Helen Preisler as an engraver on
copper; and Joanna Sabina Preu as both an engraver and modeler in wax.
All these obtained no insignificant reputation.
In Nuremberg also lived, in 1684, Anna Maria Pfründt, born in Lyons.
She modeled portraits in wax, some of which were those of persons of
high rank, and, adorned with costly drapery and precious stones, gained
a wide-spread reputation for the artist.
Augsburgh was also rich in evidences of woman’s artistic taste.
Susannah Fischer and Johanna Sibylla Küsel excelled in painting,
while her younger sisters, Christina and Magdalena Küsel, with Maria
Wieslatin, engraved in copper. Others surpassed the Nurembergers in
fine carving.
In Regensburgh lived Anna Catharina Fischer, a flower and portrait
painter; in Munich, Isabella del Pozzo was appointed court painter
by the Electress Adelaide, and the miniature-painter Maria Rieger
was employed very frequently by princely personages. Placida Lamme
distinguished herself about the same time by painting miniatures and
carving pictures, with which she occupied her time in the Bavarian
cloister of Hohenwart.
In Hamburg, Mariana Van der Stoop and Diana Glauber were painters
by profession, and in Saxony we find a skillful portrait-painter in
Margaretta Rastrum, who pursued her art in Leipzig. The above-mentioned
Anna Catharina Fischer lived a long time in Halle, with her husband, a
painter named Block. Toward the end of this century we hear of Madame
Ravemann, who executed a beautiful medal--an exquisite specimen of
cutting--for Augustus the Second.
THE PRINCESS HOLLANDINA.
Casting a glance over western Germany, we find the artistic poverty
of the land redeemed by a princess who loved the liberal arts--Louise
Hollandina, of the Pfalz. She was the daughter of the unhappy Friedrich
V., and the sister of the Princess Elizabeth, whose chief celebrity
arose from her veneration for the philosopher Descartes; also of
the Prince Ruprecht, noted in art history for his drawings and his
leaves in the black art. Hollandina, with her sister Sophia, received
instruction in painting from the famous Gerard Honthorst, and painted
large historical pictures in the style of that master, of which at the
present time very little is known. Two of Hollandina’s paintings were
added to the collection of her uncle, King Charles--one representing
Tobias and the Angel; the other, a falconer. An altar-piece by her hand
adorns a church in Paris. Lovelace, in his poetry, speaks highly of the
abilities of this princess.
Her family originated from the same place that gave birth to Anna Maria
Schurmann--the city of Cologne--where that famed artist obtained her
early education.
We must not omit to mention Frankfort-on-the-Main, where, in the
middle of the seventeenth century, lived one of the most celebrated
women of whom Germany then could boast. This was
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN.
She was the daughter of Matthew Merian, the well-known geographer
and engraver, and born at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1647. Her father
published a topographical work in Germany, in thirty-one folio volumes.
Her mother was the daughter of Theodore de Bry, an engraver of repute.
A remarkable circumstance, and one contrary to the usual experience
of extraordinary persons, was, that Sibylla devoted herself to the
vocation of the artist in opposition to her mother’s wishes and in the
face of great difficulties. In this respect she differed from most
other women artists; for they, as a rule, were led to the study by
parental example or domestic training.
From the early childhood of this singular girl she manifested a
persevering spirit of research in natural history, with a fondness for
examining specimens of vegetable and animal life. It is possible that
this natural predilection was owing to one of those accidents that so
often determine the course and bent of human intellect. Her mother,
shortly before her birth, it is said, took a fancy to make a collection
of curious stones, mussels, and different sorts of caterpillars.
However this may be, it is certain that the child, at a very early age,
showed the same taste, and no maternal reproaches or punishment could
keep her from indulging the strange fancy. She would, however, conceal
her treasures. At last her step-father, the painter Jacob Marrel,
having persuaded the mother to consent, arranged it so that the girl
took lessons of the famous flower-painter, Abraham Mignon.
In the year 1665, at eighteen, she married John Andrew Graf, a painter
and designer in architecture. The marriage was not a happy one, but
she lived with Graf nearly twenty years in Nuremberg, in a lonely and
secluded manner, devoted solely to her art, as she herself says in
the preface to one of her published works, giving up intercourse with
society, and beguiling her time by the examination of the various
species of insects, of which she made drawings, and by the study of
their transformations.
She painted her specimens first on parchment, and many of those
pictures were distributed among amateurs. Encouraged by them, she
published, in 1679, a work entitled “The Wonderful Transformations of
Caterpillars,” a quarto volume, with copper engravings, executed by
herself after her own drawings. Another volume appeared in 1684.
The affairs of Graf having become embarrassed, and his conduct being
much censured, he was compelled to leave his family and go out of the
country. After this separation, Sibylla never assumed her husband’s
name in any of her publications, but issued them under her maiden name.
About 1684 she went to Frankfort, and prepared for a journey to West
Friesland with her mother and daughters. There she became possessed
with the religious enthusiasm which had driven so many women into
strange doings, and joined the sect of the Labadists, taking up her
abode at the Castle Bosch.
Sibylla did not yield her energies, however, entirely to the dominion
of this kind of phrensy; her old habits of study and research followed
her. Butterflies and worms again occupied her attention, and she soon
took a deep interest in all the collections of animals from the East
and West Indies which she discovered were within her reach.
Among those persons whose collections were most admired by her was
Fridericus Ruysch, a doctor of medicine and professor of botany, and
the father of the Rachel Ruysch already noticed. It is not difficult
to believe that the example and conversation of a woman so gifted and
so devoted to study as Madame Merian had a decisive influence upon the
character of the youthful Rachel.
Our heroic and industrious heroine was delighted at the opportunity
of examining such interesting collections; for, besides the pleasure
her investigations in natural history afforded her, she was stimulated
by an inextinguishable desire to know all that could be learned about
that department of the animal kingdom. At length, anxious to see the
metamorphoses and food of American insects, she determined to undertake
that laborious and expensive journey to Surinam which she accomplished
in June, 1699. The States of Holland assisted her with the means of
travel. Her journey gave occasion to the following lines by a French
poet:
“Sibylla à Surinam va chercher la nature,
Avec l’esprit d’un Sage, et le cœur d’un Heros.”
The place of her destination was Dutch Guiana, often called Surinam,
from a river of that name, on which the capital, Paramaribo, is
situated. It is said that, one day during her residence there, the
Indians brought Madame Merian a number of living lantern-flies, which
she put into a box; but they made so much noise at night, that she rose
from her bed and opened their prison. The multitude of fiery flames
issuing from the box so terrified her that she immediately dropped it
on the ground. Hence came marvelous stories of the strong light emitted
by that insect.
She remained in America nearly two years, till the summer of 1701,
notwithstanding the unfavorable effect of the climate on her health,
and the difficulties thus encountered in the prosecution of her
studies. Though strong of will, she could not long bear up against
such an enemy, and was obliged to return much sooner than suited her
inclinations.
In September she was again in Holland, where her splendid paintings, on
parchment, of American insects, excited the greatest admiration among
the connoisseurs. They pressed her to publish a work that would open a
world of vegetables and animals hitherto unknown; and, in spite of the
great expense, she resolved at last, without expectation of a return
for her outlay, to engrave her pictures for publication. The reward of
her labors was to be in the sale of successive editions. This work was
entitled “Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, etc. The text drawn
up by Gaspar Commelin, from the MSS. of the author.”
In 1771 a collection of Madame Merian’s works was published in Paris,
translated into French; and to this day are to be seen engravings,
nearly of the size of the original, of the various paintings made by
this enthusiastic woman of objects that struck her fancy--caterpillars,
butterflies, spiders, snakes, and various kinds of animals and
plants--executed with all the luxury of brilliant coloring, and
illustrated by choice poetry.
Her great work was entitled “History of the Insects of Europe, drawn
from Nature, and explained, by Maria Sibylla Merian.” It included a
treatise on the generation and metamorphoses of insects, and the
plants on which they feed. Her pictures were not only executed with
fidelity, but each insect appeared in its first state with the most
pleasing accompaniments. With those metamorphosed from the chrysalis or
nymph to the fly or butterfly, were presented the plants and flowers
they loved, all correctly and tastefully delineated.
Even after the appearance of her work, in 1705, the persevering artist
continued her studies in natural history, in which she was joined by
both her daughters, whom she had educated to pursuits of art. Dorothea,
the youngest, had accompanied her to Surinam, while the eldest, Joanna
Maria Helena, came afterward with her husband, a merchant of Amsterdam,
to assist her mother in collecting and painting specimens. It was the
mother’s intention to publish the pictures made by her daughters in an
appendix to her own collected works; but her death, which occurred in
January, 1717, prevented this, and the daughters afterward published
the results of their labors in a separate volume.
This extraordinary woman, whose labors contributed so much to the
improvement and embellishment of the natural history of insects, was
little favored by gifts of beauty or personal grace. Her portrait shows
hard and heavy-lined features. A curious headdress, made of folds of
black stuff, rises high above the head, and inclines a little to the
left. Short, light curls appear above a cambric ruffle, finishing a
half-low corsage. She is undoubtedly entitled to a place among great
artists.
The history of Madame Merian rounds off that of German female artists
belonging to the seventeenth century with an exhibition of more than
ordinary interest.
THE DANISH WOMEN ARTISTS.
A glimpse may here be had of the artists of Denmark and England.
Anna Crabbe was a painter by profession in Copenhagen before the
year 1618. She painted a series of portraits of Danish princes, to
which she added a poetical description of each. The daughter of King
Christian IV., Eleonora Christina, who married the minister Ulefeld,
was not only celebrated for her beauty and intellectual gifts, but
for skill in various branches of art--engraving, modeling in wax,
and miniature-painting. Her daughter Helena Christina possessed like
talents.
Toward the close of the century, Sophie Hedwig, the daughter of King
Christian V., became noted as an artist, gaining much reputation by her
performances in portrait, landscape, and flower painting.
Neither in Denmark nor in England was any special direction given
to art by the national character; on the contrary, in both these
countries, the prevailing taste was governed by that of foreign
nations--as the Dutch and German.
ENGLISH FEMALE ARTISTS.
In England there were not many women artists, although in literature
the sex was not without its share of laurels, and in dramatic poetry
and prose romance women contended for appreciation with masculine
writers. The poetess Joanna Weston was a great admirer of Anna Maria
Schurmann, and took her for a model; but there were no painters who
could be compared in merit to the women who cultivated poetry.
As miniature-painters, Susannah Penelope Gibson may be mentioned;
also Penelope Cleyn. The latter was the daughter of a German painter,
and her sisters Magdalen and Sarah were also devoted to the art. They
painted the portrait of Richard Cromwell’s daughter.
Mary More obtained some distinction as a portrait-painter. It was in
England that the Princess Hollandina, before mentioned, took lessons in
painting, with her sister Sophie, from Gerard Honthorst.
In the noble art of etching Anna and Susannah Lister were regarded as
having much skill; they illustrated a work on natural history by their
father, in the manner of Madame Merian, by their artistic efforts.
A lady connoisseur and engraver of much taste was the Countess of
Carlisle. She perhaps set the fashion afterward followed by so many
fair dilettanti, who exercised so much influence in England during the
succeeding century.
Susan Penelope Rose, according to Lord Orford, was the daughter of
Richard Gibson the Dwarf. She married a jeweler, and became noted for
painting portraits in water colors with great freedom. Her miniatures
were larger than usual. She died at forty-eight in 1700.
A contemporary of Vandyck was Mrs. Anna Carlisle, who died about 1680.
She was celebrated for her copies of the Italian masters. Charles I.
esteemed her highly. She once shared with Vandyck a present from their
royal patron, of ultramarine; it is said to have cost the king five
hundred pounds. This renders it probable that she painted in oil; for
the quantity was too large for use in miniatures.
One of her works represents herself teaching a lady to paint. This
artist must not be confounded with the Countess of Carlisle, who was
distinguished for her beautiful engravings of the works of Salvator
Rosa, Guido, etc.
MARY BEALE,
the daughter of Mr. Craddock, a clergyman, was born at Suffolk about
1632. She received some instruction from Walker, but was a favorite
pupil of Sir Peter Lely. She painted in oil, water-colors, and crayons.
She acquired much of the Italian style by copying old pictures from
Lely’s and the royal collection. She copied some of the portraits of
Vandyck. Her works were remarkable for vigor of drawing and fresh
coloring, with great purity and sweetness. The artist was an estimable
and amiable woman; was highly respected, and mingled in the society of
the noble and the learned. Her pencil was employed by many personages
of distinction. Her husband was an inferior painter.
It was rumored that Sir Peter Lely was romantically attached to his
fair pupil; but his love could not have met with return, for he is
known to have been reserved in communicating to her the resources of
his pencil. He refused to intrust to her one of the important secrets
of his art.
Several poems in praise of Mrs. Beale were published; one in particular
is remembered, by Dr. Woodfall, in which she is celebrated under the
name of “Belasia.” Her husband, Charles Beale, had the curious practice
of noting in small almanac pocket-books almost daily accounts of
whatever related to his wife, her pictures, or himself. He practiced
chemistry for the preparation of colors. He bequeathed thirty of the
almanacs, filled with his notes, and records of the praises lavished on
his wife’s pictures, to a colorman named Carter.
Walpole says Mrs. Beale’s portraits were numerous. She painted one of
Otway, the poet. The Archbishop Tillotson was her patron, and many of
the clergy sat to her. The archbishop’s portrait is the first of an
ecclesiastic who, quitting the coif of silk, is delineated in a brown
wig.
Some have said that she persuaded her friends to sit to Lely, that she
might learn his method of coloring. There is no doubt that she rose to
the first rank in her profession. One of her sons became a painter. She
died at Pall Mall in 1697, aged sixty-five.
ANNE KILLEGREW--
“A grace for beauty, and a muse for wit,” as writes one of her
admirers--was the daughter of Henry Killegrew, descended of a family
remarkable for loyalty, accomplishments, and talent. She proved one
of its brightest ornaments. She was born in London, and at a very
early age discovered a remarkable genius. She became celebrated both
in painting and poetry. One of her portraits was of the Duke of York,
afterward James II.; others, of Mary of Modena and the Duchess of
York, to whom she was maid of honor. These pieces were highly praised
by Dryden. She produced, also, several history-pieces, and pictures
of still life. Becket did her miniature in mezzotint, after her own
painting; it was prefixed to the published edition of her poems. The
painting was in the style of Sir Peter Lely, which she imitated with
great success. Her portrait, taken by Lely, has a pleasing expression,
though the air is slightly prim. The dress is low-necked, with beads,
and a mantle is fastened at the breast with a brooch. Curls cluster
round the face; the back hair is loose and flowing.
Though called “mistress,” after the fashion of the time, Anne was never
married. She was a woman of unblemished character and exemplary piety.
Death cut short her promising career, by small-pox, in 1685--as Wood
says, “to the unspeakable reluctancy of her relations”--when she was
but twenty-five years of age. She was buried in Savoy Chapel, where
a monument is fixed in the wall, bearing a Latin inscription by her
father, setting forth her accomplishments, virtue, and piety.
Dryden’s ode to her memory was called by Dr. Johnson “the noblest
our language has produced.” Another critic terms it “a harmonious
hyperbole, composed of the fall of Adam, Arethusa, Vestal virgins,
Diana, Cupid, Noah’s ark, the Pleiades, the fall of Jehoshaphat, and
the last assizes.” After lauding her poetic excellence, Dryden says:
“Her pencil drew whate’er her soul designed;
And oft the happy draft surpassed the image of her mind.”
And of her portrait of James II.:
“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.”
Notwithstanding such flattery, Anthony Wood says, “There is nothing
spoken of her which she was not equal to, if not superior;” and
adds, “If there had not been more true history in her praises than
compliment, her father never would have suffered them to pass the
press.”
Her poems appeared after her death in a thin quarto volume, prefaced
by the ode and the Latin epitaph. Among her history-pieces were “St.
John in the Wilderness,” “Herodias with the Head of John the Baptist,”
and “Two of Diana’s Nymphs.” The melodious eulogizer of her graces and
gifts remarks of the queen’s portrait:
“Our phœnix queen was portrayed too, so bright,
Beauty alone could beauty take so right;
Before, a train of heroines was seen,
In beauty foremost, as in rank a queen.”
THE ARTIST IN SILK.
Mademoiselle Rosée, born in Leyden in 1632, deserves a place among
eminent artists for the singularity of her talents. Instead of using
colors, with oil or gum, she used silk for the delicate shading. It
can hardly be understood how she managed to apply the fibres, and to
imitate the flesh-tints, blending and mellowing them so admirably.
She thus painted portraits, as well as landscapes and architecture.
Michel Carré, who saw one of her portraits, says, “It can scarcely be
believed it is not done by the pencil.” One of her pieces brought five
hundred florins. It represented the decayed trunk of a tree, covered
with moss and leaves. On the top a bird has made her nest. The shading
and the sky in the distance left nothing to be desired for coloring and
truthful effect. The Grand-Duke of Tuscany purchased one of her finest
pieces, which is yet preserved among the curiosities of his collection.
She was never married, and died at the age of fifty, in 1682.
THE ARTIST OF THE SCISSORS.
Joanna Koerten Block is regarded by the Dutch as one of their most
remarkable female artists. She was born in Amsterdam in 1650, and
manifested a taste for the fine arts in her childhood. She learned
music and embroidery, and how to model fruits and figures; she also
understood coloring, and engraved with a diamond on crystal and glass
with surprising delicacy. She also painted in oil and water colors
in a novel manner. Possessing a rare art in blending colors, she
copied pictures so wonderfully that they could hardly be distinguished
from the originals. This faculty of imitation she carried to such
perfection, that it was believed among her contemporaries that, had
she devoted herself exclusively to this kind of work, she would have
equaled the great masters. She gave up, however, after a while, the
cultivation of this singular talent for the development of another
still more extraordinary, for which she has obtained a place among the
great artists of her country.
All that the engraver accomplishes with the burin, she was able to
do with the scissors. Her cuttings were indeed astonishing. Country
scenes, marine views, animals, flowers, with portraits of perfect
resemblance, she executed in a marvelous manner. This novel style of
making pictures out of white paper created not a little sensation,
and ere long the matter became spread abroad widely, and excited the
curiosity of all the courts of Europe. Even artists could not help
admiring her skill in this strange art, and not one came to Amsterdam
without paying her a visit.
The Czar Peter the Great, princes of royal blood, and nobles of the
highest rank paid their respects to the simple Dutch maiden, and
examined her works with pleased curiosity. The Elector Palatine offered
a thousand florins for three small pieces cut by her, but the offer was
declined as not liberal enough.
The Empress of Germany ordered a piece executed as a trophy of the arms
of the Emperor Leopold I. The design showed the crown and imperial
arms upheld by eagles, and surrounded by laurel wreaths, garlands of
flowers, and appropriate ornaments. This was executed in a wonderful
manner, and for it the fair artist received four thousand florins.
The portrait of the emperor, cut by Joanna, is preserved in his
imperial majesty’s cabinet at Vienna. Queen Mary of England, and other
royal personages, wished to decorate their cabinets with the works
of this artist. She cut many portraits, with which the sitters were
pleased and astonished. The Latin, German, and Dutch verses composed
in her honor would fill a volume. She had in her working-room a volume
in which were registered the names of her illustrious visitors, the
princes and princesses and other great personages writing their
own. It is the same curious register in which Nicholas Verkslie saw
the portraits of illustrious persons, appended each to the proper
signature. This interesting addition is said to have been made by
Adrien Block, the artist’s husband. He published a series of vignettes
from her pieces.
Joanna died in 1715, at the age of sixty-five. Her taste and design
were marked by correctness and delicacy, and she was original and
unique in the style of work to which she devoted herself. When her
pieces were put over black paper, the effect was that of an engraving
or pen-drawing. Neatness, clearness, and decision were her prominent
characteristics.
Her portrait, coarsely engraved, is published by Descampes. She had a
noble style of face, with strongly marked features. The hair is dressed
in a point in front; the neckerchief and dress are worn in antiquated
style.
Among the distinguished artists of the seventeenth century we must not
omit
ANNA WASSER.
She was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1676, and is esteemed by the
Swiss as one of their most eminent painters. Her father was Rudolph
Wasser, a member of the Grand Council of Zurich, and artist of the
foundation of the Cathedral. She very early evinced a remarkable
faculty for learning languages, and at the age of twelve was familiar
with Latin and French, and acquainted with the general literature of
those tongues. Her rapid progress in belles-lettres astonished every
body, and gave the promise of wonderful attainments; but the bent of
her genius was for art. She took lessons of the painter Joseph Werner,
and had no sooner learned to handle a pencil, than she could think
of nothing else. When thirteen years old she made a copy of Werner’s
“Flora” in Bern, which convinced all her friends that she was destined
by nature for an artist. The painter himself praised her correct design
and perfect imitation of his coloring, and advised her father to send
her to Bern to study. She spent three years in the school; at first
employing herself in oil painting, but finally abandoning that for
miniatures. By the time her education was completed she had reached a
perfection little short of that of her teacher.
Returning to Zurich, she devoted herself to art as a profession. Her
productions were taken to England, Holland, and Germany, where they
were greatly admired, and her contemporaries extolled her as a second
Schurmann. There was scarcely a court in the German empire from which
she had not commissions. Those of Baden-Durlach and Stuttgard disputed
which should possess the greatest number of her works. The Duke of
Wurtemberg, Eberhard Louis, and his sister, the Margravine von Durlach,
sent her large portraits to be painted in miniature.
While Anna’s fame spread throughout Germany, her very success tended
to throw difficulties in the way of her artistic progress. Her
father was pressed with the care of a large family, and thought his
interests would be favored more by multiplying the number of his
daughter’s works, than by allowing her time to finish them. He urged
her continually to new enterprises. Thus depressed and tied to sordid
cares, Anna lost her spirits and fell into a melancholy that threatened
to destroy her health. Happily, at this time, the court of Solms
Braunfels made her favorable proposals of employment. She accepted the
invitation, went there with one of her brothers, and soon found she
would be enabled to indulge her taste for elaborating and perfecting
her paintings. She rapidly regained her cheerfulness, and became the
delight and admiration of the circles in which she moved. Again her
father’s avarice disturbed this agreeable state of things. He sent her
an abrupt summons to return home, where he expected her to do more work
for his benefit. She obeyed the command, but on the journey, made in
such haste, she got a severe fall, the effects of which terminated her
life in 1713, at the age of thirty-four.
Fuseli possessed a painting in oil done by Anna Wasser at the age of
thirteen. He gave her praise for correctness of outline, and for spirit
of coloring. She appears to have excelled most in pastoral and rural
pieces, which it was her delight to paint. Her compositions were
marked by great ingenuity, and were finished with exquisite delicacy.
Her literary accomplishments procured her the friendship of the most
eminent scholars of her day in Germany; such as Werner, Meyer, Hubert,
Steller, etc., and she corresponded with many celebrated persons. Among
her female friends was Clara Eimart, already mentioned among German
artists. Her manners were gentle and dignified, and her character was
pure and blameless. To filial obedience she would at any time sacrifice
her own inclinations; indeed she often carried her devotion to excess.
The portrait given of her shows delicate and sharply defined features.
The hair is worn in Grecian style, with ringlets at the side, and
braids falling on her neck. She appears surrounded with flowers, with
baskets of fruit beside her.
Maria Theresa van Thielen, and her two sisters, the daughters of an
artist of noble family, were instructed by him in flower-painting, the
first excelling also in portraits.