THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Female Artists in the Scandinavian Countries.--In Sweden.--Ulrica
Pasch.--Danish Women Artists.--A richer Harvest in the
Netherlands.--The Belgian Sculptress.--Maria Verelst.--Her
Paintings and Attainments in the Languages.--Residence in
London.--Curious Anecdote.--Walpole’s Remark.--Women Artists in
Holland.--Poetry.--Henrietta Wolters.--Her Portraits.--Invitation
from Peter the Great.--Dutch Paintresses.--The young
Engraver.--Caroline Scheffer.--Landscape and Flower Painters.--A
Follower of Rachel Ruysch.--An Engraver.--In England.--Painting
suited to Women.--Literary Ladies.--Effect of the Introduction
of a new Manner in Art.--Numerous Dilettanti.--Female
Sculptors.--Mrs. Samon.--Mrs. Siddons and others.--Mrs.
Damer.--Aristocratic Birth.--Early love of Study and Art.--Horace
Walpole her Adviser.--Conversation with Hume.--First Attempt at
Modeling.--The Marble Bust and Hume’s Criticism.--Surprise of
the gay World.--Miss Conway’s Lessons and Works.--Unfortunate
Marriage.--Widowhood.--Politics.--Walpole’s Opinion of Mrs. Damer’s
Sculptures.--Darwin’s Lines.--Sculptures.--Envy and Detraction.--Going
abroad.--Escape from Danger.--Noble Ambition.--Return to
England.--Politics and Kissing.--Private Theatricals.--The three
Heroes.--Friendship with the Empress.--Walpole’s Bequest.--Parlor
Theatricals, etc.--Removal.--Project for improving India.--Mrs.
Damer’s Works.--Opinions of her.
From Germany we now turn to the northern countries, to the Netherlands,
and England, to glance at their female artists of the eighteenth
century.
Few are found among the Scandinavian nations. Female talent had greatly
aided to bring about the rise of literature in Sweden, as in the
instance of Charlotte Nordenflycht and Ulrica Widström by their lyric
poems, and Maria Lenngren by her dramatic productions; but only one
artist of merit appears--the painter Ulrica Frederika Pasch, who, in
1773, was elected a member of the Academy at Stockholm.
In Denmark, where many women cultivated the muses, gaining celebrity
for lyric and dramatic productions, a flower-painter, C. M. Ryding,
and an engraver on copper, Alexia de Lodde, may be mentioned, as well
as Margaretta Ziesenis, who devoted herself to painting portraits and
historical pieces, and was somewhat famous for her copies in miniature,
such as that of Correggio’s Zingarella.
A much richer harvest opens in the Netherlands, in which the number of
women pursuing art as a profession was not less than it had been in the
preceding century. Among the Belgians the name of the sculptress Anna
Maria von Reyschoot of Ghent must not be omitted.
MARIA VERELST.
Maria Verelst was born in 1680, at Antwerp. She was the daughter of
the painter Herman Verelst, and belonged to a family abounding in
celebrated artists. She received instruction from her uncle, Simon
Verelst, and was highly esteemed, not only for her very uncommon skill
in small portraits, while she attempted historical pieces successfully,
but also for her attainments in the languages and music. She went with
her father to London, then, as before and afterward, the rendezvous of
foreign talent, and died there in 1744.
Descampes mentions a curious anecdote of her proficiency in the
languages. During her residence in London, one evening at the theatre,
she chanced to sit near six German gentlemen of high rank. They were
struck with her beauty and distinguished air, and expressed their
admiration in conversation with each other, in the most high-flown
terms which the German language could supply. The lady turned and
addressed them in the same tongue, observing that such extravagant
praise in the presence of a lady conveyed to her no real compliment.
One of them soon after repeated his encomium in Latin. She again
turned, and, replying in the same language, said, “It was unjust to
deprive the fair sex of that classic tongue, the vehicle of so much
true learning and taste.”
With increased admiration the strangers begged permission to pay their
respects in person to a lady so singularly endowed. Maria answered that
she was a painter by profession, and lived with her uncle, Verelst
the flower-painter. They did not lose time in availing themselves of
the opportunity of seeing the fair artist and her works. Each of the
gentlemen sat for his portrait, for which he gave liberal compensation.
The story spread abroad, and proved an introduction for Maria into the
best society.
Walpole remarks of this artist that she painted in oil both large
and small portraits, and drew small history-pieces. She spoke Latin,
German, Italian, and other languages fluently.
In Protestant Holland women artists are found in still greater numbers.
Here the same favorable circumstances which had in former ages brought
art to early bloom existed with little change. As women assumed an
influential position in literature, so they did in the pictorial arts.
The religious spirit that animated many breathed in the hymns and
odes of Petronella Mocas, and in the didactic poetry of Lucretia van
Merken; Elizabeth Wolff made herself known by her poetical epistles;
and the national drama, the fair fruit of the seventeenth century,
had a votary in the Baroness von Launoy, who made translations from
Tyrtæus. In like manner did women show their enterprise in the branches
of study which belong to our subject.
HENRIETTA WOLTERS.
Henrietta Wolters of Amsterdam gained no inconsiderable fame as a
miniature-painter. She was the pupil of her father, Theodore van Pee,
and was early accustomed to copy from Van der Velde and Vandyck. The
miniature portraits afterward painted by her were so perfect in finish
and execution, that the Czar Peter the Great, who seems to have become
acquainted with her during his journey incognito through Holland,
offered her a salary of six thousand florins as court-painter if she
would remove to his capital. She received as much as four hundred
florins for a single picture. She declined the imperial invitation, and
remained in her home, where, having lived with her husband, the painter
Wolters, since 1719, she died in 1741.
Passing over several of little note as artists, though among them are
numbered the Princess Anna of Orange and Cornelia de Ryk, we may pause
to mention Christina Chalon, who was born in Amsterdam in 1749, and
received her education with another artist, Sarah Troost. She painted
chiefly in gouache scenes from country life and family groups, and is
said to have learned the engraver’s art so young that she engraved a
picture when only nine years old. She died at Leyden in 1808.
Caroline Scheffer belongs to the close of this century. She was the
daughter and pupil of a painter, Ary Lamme, and married another, J.
B. Scheffer of Mannheim, with whom she lived long in Amsterdam and
Rotterdam. After her husband’s death, in 1809, she went to Paris with
her two sons, Ary and Henry, to give them the advantage of the best
instruction in painting. They did credit to the care of this good
and affectionate mother in the fame they acquired, and returned her
devotion with due tenderness and filial love. She died at Paris in 1839.
To these names should be added those of several women who devoted
themselves especially to landscape and flower painting--two branches in
which Holland could boast artists of skill and renown. Among these are
Elizabeth Ryberg, who lived in Rotterdam; Maria Jacoba Ommegank, and
Alberta ten Oever of Gröningen, some of whose landscapes, in the manner
of Ruysdael and Hobbema, were seen in the exhibition of 1818. Anna
Moritz, Susanna Maria Nymegen, and Cornelia van der Myin, are named by
Dr. Guhl.
Elizabeth Georgina van Hogenhuizen, a dilettante, born in Hague in
1776, became a disciple of Rachel Ruysch, and gave promise of attaining
to a kindred celebrity, had not her life been cut short in the bloom of
eighteen.
Among engravers on copper, who employed themselves with the pencil
as well as the graver, may be mentioned Maria Elizabeth Simons; she
engraved several pictures from Rubens and Van der Velde in the early
part of the century.
In England, the political greatness of the nation and the appreciation
of art among the nobility, more than any natural predisposition of the
people, proved favorable to the progress of a cultivated taste, and
rewarded talent from other countries. Corresponding to the improvement
in the prospects of art, we find a number of women occupied diligently
in its pursuit.
A writer in one of the British reviews observes: “The profession of
the painter would seem, in many respects, peculiarly fitted for woman.
It demands no sacrifice of maiden modesty nor of matronly reserve;
it leads her into no scenes of noisy revelry or unseemly license; it
does not force her to stand up to be stared at, commented on, clapped
or hissed by a crowded and often unmannered audience, who forget the
woman in the artist. It leaves her, during a great portion of her time
at least, beneath the protecting shelter of her home, beside her own
quiet fireside, in the midst of those who love her and whom she loves.
But, on the other hand, to attain high eminence, it demands the entire
devotion of a life; it entails a toil and study, severe, continuous,
and unbroken.” There is enough in this twofold truth to account both
for the number of women artists and the failure of many to reach the
distinction they aimed at.
The assiduous cultivation of literature among ladies of the higher
class in the eighteenth century is sufficiently attested by productions
that yet remain for popular admiration. The names of Joanna Baillie,
Mrs. Montague, Clara Reeve, Fanny Burney, Harriet and Sophia Lee, Mrs.
Cowley, etc., posterity will not willingly let die; and the improvement
in general education owes much to the beneficial influence of women who
labored for this end, and strove also to introduce into society a less
frivolous tone of manners and a more pervading respect for morality and
religion. Mrs. Trimmer, Hannah More, Mrs. Barbauld, are remembered
with gratitude as having done their part in the good work; as also
Elizabeth Smith, who added to her literary acquirements extraordinary
talents and accomplishments both in music and painting.
It was after the introduction of a new manner by artists who had
partaken of the inspiration of Carstens--such as Flaxman and Fuseli,
near the close of the century--that the greater number of English
female artists came into notice. It is necessary to mention only the
most prominent. One third, at least, of the entire body in England were
distinguished chiefly as amateurs, while in France the contrary was
true, very few having been noted among the artists of this period.
First let us pay some attention to the sculptors. In the early part of
the century Mrs. Samon modeled figures and historical groups in wax. It
is said that the world-renowned Siddons was accustomed to amuse herself
occasionally by attempts in sculpture. Lady E. Fitzgerald, Miss Ogle,
Mrs. Wilmot, and Miss Andross, were also noted for their attempts in
sculpture. But the place of pre-eminence, above all who had appeared
down to the later years of the eighteenth century, belongs to Mrs.
Damer.
ANNE SEYMOUR DAMER.
A rarer honor it is to a nation to be able to boast of a successful
artist of aristocratic origin than of a celebrated statesman. The
subject of this sketch was descended from families of the best blood
of England. Born in 1748, she was the only child of Field Marshal
Henry Seymour Conway (brother to the Marquis of Hertford) and Caroline
Campbell, only daughter of John, the fourth Duke of Argyle, and
widow of the Earl of Aylesbury and Elgin. “Her birth entitled her to
a life of ease and luxury; her beauty exposed her to the assiduities
of suitors and the temptations of courts, but it was her pleasure to
forget all such advantages, and dedicate the golden hours of her youth
to the task of raising a name by working in wet clay, plaster of Paris,
stubborn marble, and still more intractable bronze.”[2]
[2] Allan Cunningham.
The foundation of a pure and correct taste was laid in her superior
education. She devoted herself early to study, and acquired a knowledge
of general literature rare among women; became well acquainted with the
history and arts of the nations of antiquity, and with the standard
authors of England, France, and Italy. Her cousin, Horace Walpole, was
greatly pleased with her enthusiasm, and took delight in directing her
studies.
She had long been accustomed to gaze with admiration on the few
beautiful pieces of ancient sculpture which she had opportunity of
seeing, and she felt in her own soul that inspiration which is almost
always the prophecy of success. It is said the bent of her genius
was discovered by an adventure with David Hume, the historian. When
eighteen or twenty years old, Anne was walking with him one day. They
were accosted by an Italian boy who offered for sale some plaster
figures and vases. The historian examined his wares, and spent some
minutes talking with the little fellow. Miss Conway afterward rallied
Mr. Hume in company upon his taste for paltry plaster casts. He
replied, with a touch of sarcasm, that the images she had viewed with
such contempt had not been made without the aid of both science and
genius, adding that a woman, even with all her attainments, could not
produce such works. The young lady formed a determination from that
moment to convince her monitor of his mistake.
She procured wax and modeling tools, worked in secret, and in a short
time finished a head--some say a portrait of the philosopher, which she
presented to him in no small triumph.
“This is very clever,” observed Hume. “It really deserves praise for a
first attempt; but, remember, it is much easier to model in wax than to
chisel a bust from marble.”
The persevering girl was resolved to compel the satirist to the
admission that a woman could do more than he had supposed. Without
any announcement of her design, she supplied herself with marble and
all the necessary implements of labor. It was not long before she had
copied out in marble, roughly perhaps, but faithfully, the head she had
modeled in wax. She placed it before the historian, who was actually
surprised into admiration, though he found something still to criticise
in the want of fine workmanship and delicate finish. His fault-finding
probably went far to stimulate her to new exertions. From this time the
impulse of genius was strong within her, and she was firmly resolved
even to seclude herself from the brilliant society by which she was
surrounded for the purpose of devoting her life to the pursuit she
found so congenial to her taste.
It could not long be concealed from the world of fashion that the
admired Miss Conway had forsaken the mask and the dance, and was
working, like any day-laborer, in wet clay; that she moved amid
subdued lights; that her glossy hair was covered with a mob cap
to keep out the white dust of the marble, while an unsightly apron
preserved her silk gown and embroidered slippers; that her white and
delicate fingers were often soiled with clay, or grasped the hammer
and the chisel. The strange story ran like wild-fire among the circles
of her acquaintance. Several titled ladies had wielded the pencil
and the brush, but scarcely one could be remembered who had taken
to sculpture. It may well be imagined that the spirited girl found
pleasure in showing her independence, and that she was animated by a
noble ambition to carve out for herself with the chisel a place among
the honored among artists, worthy of a descendant of the Seymours and
the Campbells. Works of genius seemed more than coronets to her; and
noble actions, than Norman blood!
She now took lessons in modeling and the elemental part of sculpture,
from Cerrachi--the same conspirator who was brought to the guillotine
for plotting against Napoleon--while she perfected herself in the
practical part of working in marble in the studio of the elder Bacon,
and studied anatomy with Cruikshanks. She produced a number of ideal
heads and busts, and some figures of animals, executed with skill; but
her progress was slow, and she produced no work of note till seven
years after her marriage.
At the age of nineteen she bestowed her hand upon the Hon. John
Damer, the eldest son of Lord Milton, and the nephew of the Earl of
Dorchester. This marriage proved a sad drawback to the improvement
of our young artist. Damer--“heir in expectancy to thirty thousand a
year--was at once eccentric and extravagant. Those were the days of
silk, and lace, and embroidery, and he adorned his person with all
that was costly, and loved to surprise his friends and vex his wife by
appearing thrice a day in a new suit.” He furnished for Miss Burney,
remarks Mrs. Lee, “in her celebrated novel of Cecilia, a character in
real life--Harrington, the guardian of her heroine.” He became the
prey of tailors and money-lenders in London; his extravagance daily
increased, and he scattered a princely fortune in a few years. In nine
years this unhappy union was terminated by the suicide of the husband,
who shot himself with a pistol, in the Bedford Arms, Covent Garden, in
August, 1776. His wardrobe, which was sold at auction, is said to have
brought fifteen thousand pounds--perhaps half its cost.
The widow, left childless, availed herself of her recovered freedom
to take journeys with the object of gaining new ideas in the art she
loved. She traveled through France, Spain, and Italy, renewing her
studies in sculpture. At this time it was the fashion for ladies to
take a warm interest in politics. Mrs. Damer became an ardent partisan
of the Whig cause, and active in helping to carry elections.
Mrs. Lee observes: “Gentlemen have no objection to ladies being
politicians if they take the right side: to wit, that to which they
themselves belong; and Mrs. Damer conscientiously adopted the opinions
of the Whig party. At that time Great Britain was waging war with her
American colonies. She took the part of the rebellious subjects, warmly
espoused our cause, and bravely advanced her opinions.” She was a warm
friend of Fox.
Walpole thus speaks of his cousin’s works, which soon acquired her
fame as a sculptor: “Mrs. Damer’s busts from the life are not inferior
to the antique. Her shock dog, large as life, and only not alive,
has a looseness and softness in the curls that seemed impossible
to terra-cotta; it rivals the marble one of Bernini in the royal
collection. As the ancients have left us but five animals of equal
merit with their human figures--viz., the Barberini goat, the Tuscan
boar, the Mattei eagle, the eagle at Strawberry Hill, and Mr. Jenning’s
dog--the talent of Mrs. Damer must appear in the most distinguished
light.” Cerrachi gave a whole figure of Anne as the Mùse of Sculpture,
preserving the graceful lightness of her form and air.
The poet Darwin says:
“Long with soft touch shall Damer’s chisel charm;
With grace delight us, and with beauty warm.”
After 1780, she produced several fine specimens of sculpture, both in
marble and terra-cotta. She made a group of sleeping dogs, in marble,
for the Duke of Richmond, her brother-in-law, and another for Queen
Charlotte. She presented a bust of herself, in 1778, to the Florentine
Gallery, and executed several of her titled lady relatives, which were
esteemed as works of great merit, and still adorn the galleries of
noble connoisseurs. Two colossal heads of her workmanship, representing
Thames and Isis, were designed for the keystones of the bridge at
Henley.
Envy was busy, as it generally is, in disputing the claims of this
noble lady to the entire authorship of her celebrated productions; but,
though they exhibit a varied character, there was no proof that she
availed herself of more assistance than is usual for all sculptors,
both in modeling and marble-work. Subordinate hands are always employed
in preparing the model and removing the superfluous material.
Mrs. Damer complied with the fancy of the day in idealizing the
portraits of some of her friends into muses and deities. To please her
fast friend, Horace Walpole, she presented him with two kittens in
marble, wrought by herself, as an addition to the curiosities of his
villa. Still more endearing than their relationship was her agreement
with him in political opinions.
She had lost her father at the time she went abroad in 1779. The
seas were filled with the armed vessels of France, America, and
Great Britain, and there was some danger in crossing the Channel.
The sculptress was protected, it is true, by her sympathy with the
Transatlantic “rebels” and by her character of artist. However, the
vessel in which she sailed encountered a French man-of-war, with which
a running fight was kept up for four hours. But “the heroic daughter of
a hero” manifested both sense and coolness. The French prevailed; the
packet struck its colors within sight of Ostend; but Mrs. Damer was not
detained in captivity.
She now devoted herself more assiduously to the study of classic
authors, with the view of entering more fully into the feeling and
character of antique sculpture. She kept notes of her reflections
as she contemplated the works of art in Italy, with the remarks of
critics. She was bent on accomplishing some great work, the glory of
which should eclipse the lustre of her hereditary dignity. She had more
ambition to become distinguished as a sculptor than as the descendant
of the high aristocracy of Britain.
Returning from Italy and Spain, she took part in the election that
terminated in the triumph of Charles Fox. Mrs. Crewe and the lovely
Duchess of Devonshire joined her in canvassing for their favorite,
the Whig candidate, “rustling their silks in the lowest sinks of sin
and misery, and, in return for the electors’ ‘most sweet voices,’
submitting, it is said, their own sweet cheeks to the salutes of
butchers and barge-men.”
An old elector said to Cunningham: “It was a fine sight to see a grand
lady come right smack up to us hard-working mortals, with a hand held
out, and a ‘Master, how d’ ye do?’ and laugh so loud, and talk so kind,
and shake us by the hand, and say, ‘Give us your vote, worthy sir--a
plumper for the people’s friend, our friend, every body’s friend.’ And
then, sir, if we hummed and hawed, they would ask us for our wives and
children; and if that didn’t do, they’d think nothing of a kiss--ay, a
dozen on ’em. Kissing was nothing to them, and it came all so natural.”
It is recorded, also, that Mrs. Damer was fond of private theatricals,
and recited poetry and personated characters in plays performed at
the Duke of Richmond’s and elsewhere. Her talents in high comedy won
deserved applause, and many of our actresses would be eclipsed by her
performance in the standard old pieces. But though she took part in
such entertainments for the pleasure of others, her own delight was in
sculpture alone. Her busts in bronze, marble, and terra-cotta became
ornaments to the rich collections of her friends. Her statue of the
king in marble was established in the Edinburgh Register Office. She
consecrated a monumental bust to the memory of the countess her mother,
whose pieces of needle-work had equaled the finest paintings. She
formed a design to perpetuate the memory of a noble act by Lord William
Campbell, her uncle, he having once leaped from a boat into the Thames,
and dived down sixteen feet, to save the life of a drowning man. This
work was never finished in marble.
Mrs. Damer’s heroes, out of her own family, were Fox, Nelson, and
Napoleon; and she was acquainted with them all. She executed the
busts of the first two, and it was one of her fancies to record in
a small book the remarks of “the Napoleon of the waves” during his
conversations with her. During her visit in France she formed a
friendship for the Viscountess Beauharnais; and many years afterward
a French gentleman brought her a letter from the wife of the First
Consul, with a splendid present of porcelain. She was invited to Paris
by her former friend, who desired to present her to Napoleon. The
latter asked her for a bust of Fox, which Mrs. Damer brought to the
emperor on a subsequent visit to Paris. The emperor presented her with
a splendid snuff-box and his portrait set with diamonds.
Walpole died in 1797, bequeathing to this daughter of General Conway
for her life, his Gothic villa of “Strawberry Hill,” with its rich and
rare contents--books and artistic curiosities--and two thousand pounds
a year to keep the place in repair. It has “become famous from its
connection with the studies of the accomplished author of the Castle
of Otranto.” Here Mrs. Damer was happy in entertaining her friends,
not only with feasts of good things at her table, but with private
theatrical performances, in which she often took part. Joanna Baillie,
the matchless Siddons, Mrs. Garrick, Mrs. Berry and her daughters,
were among her chosen companions. The classic villa, however, had been
entailed upon Lord Waldegrave, and Mrs. Damer was induced to give it up
to him ten years previous to her own death. She purchased York House
in the neighborhood, the birth-place of Queen Anne. This was her summer
residence, her winter house being in Park Lane.
As she approached the close of life, and saw the heroes of her early
enthusiasm pass away, her love of sculpture increased. She thought
the art might be made to render important aid in the civilization and
religious improvement of Hindostan and the Indian isles, and often
talked with Sir Alexander Johnston of substituting Christian subjects
in sculpture for the idols of heathenism in those regions. She was,
unfortunately, no longer young enough for such an enterprise; yet the
idea was a noble one. She executed the bust of Nelson in marble for
a present to the King of Tanjore--a Hindoo sovereign of power and
influence in the south of Asia. That specimen of her skill may have
tended to disseminate in that remote nation a desire for statuary by
British artists.
A list of thirty of her works has been published. A beautiful bust of
herself, executed by her in marble, was in the collection of Richard
Payne Knight, and was bequeathed by him to the British Museum. Her
group of “The Death of Cleopatra,” represented the closing scene of
Shakspeare’s tragedy. The Queen of Egypt, having failed to excite the
pity of Octavius Cæsar, and resolved to follow her departed love, has
applied the “venomous worm of Nile” to her breast. The words
“Come, mortal wretch,
With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie,”
are embodied in the expression.
This tasteful composition was modeled in basso-relievo, and was
engraved by Hellyer as a vignette title to the second volume of
Boydell’s Shakspeare.
Mrs. Damer’s health declined in the spring of 1828, and on the 28th
of May she departed this life, in her eightieth year. She left to her
relative Sir Alexander Johnston all her works in marble, bronze, and
terra-cotta, and her mother’s needle pictures, with directions that her
apron and tools should be buried in her coffin, and that her manuscript
memoranda and correspondence should be destroyed. She was interred in
the church of Tunbridge, Kent.
Whatever difference of opinion there may be respecting the genius and
works of this sculptress, there can be none in pronouncing her an
extraordinary woman. She would have been called “strong-minded” in
our day, for she sent a friendly message to Napoleon on the eve of
Waterloo, canvassed an election for Fox, and entertained Queen Caroline
during her trial! In her estimation, genius and generous impulse were
above the conventionalities of birth and fashion. It is difficult
to estimate fairly the productions of a favored child of wealth and
splendor, and one eminent for learning and wit. Her works have been
severely criticised, and those who most admire her independent career,
are disposed to deny her the possession of great originality and such
a practical knowledge of art as would enable her to finish with a
good degree of perfection. It has been remarked, however, that her
conception was generally superior to her execution.