THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
More vigorous Growth of the Branches selected for female
Enterprise.--Progress accelerated toward the Close of last
Century.--Still more remarkable within the last fifty Years.--Great
Number of Women active in Art.--Better intellectual Cultivation
and growing Taste.--Increased Freedom of Woman.--Present Prospect
fair.--Growing Sense of the Importance of Female Education.--Women
earning an Independence.--The Stream shallows as it widens.--Few
Instances of pre-eminent Ability.--Fuller Scope of the Influence
of the French Masters in the nineteenth Century.--David, the
Republican Painter.--His female Pupils.--Angélique Mongez.--Madame
Davin and others.--Disciples of Greuze.--Female Scholars of
Regnault.--Pupils of the Disciples of David.--Pupils of Fleury
and Cogniet.--Madame Chaudet.--Kinds of Painting in Vogue.--The
Princess Marie d’Orleans.--Her Statue of the Maid of Orleans.--Her
last Work.--Promise of Greatness.--Sculpture by Madame de
Lamartine.--“Paris is France.”--Painting on Porcelain.--Madame
Jacotot and others.--Condition of Art in Germany.--Carstens.--Women
Artists.--Maria Ellenrieder.--Louise Seidler.--Baroness von
Freiberg.--Madame von Schroeter.--Female Artists of the Düsseldorf
School.--The greatest Number in Berlin.--Rich Bloom of Female Talent
in Vienna and Dresden.--Changes in Italy.--Prospect not fair in Spain
and Scandinavia.--In England, Sculpture and Painting successfully
cultivated.--Fanny Corbeaux.--Superior in Biblical Scholarship.--The
Netherlands in this Century.--Encouragement for Women to
persevere.--Dr. Guhl’s Opinion.--History the Teacher of the Present.
With the foregoing glimpses, the sketch of woman’s active efforts
in art during the eighteenth century may be closed; completing our
bird’s-eye view of her share in those ennobling pursuits during
a history covering over two thousand years. As we approach the
present time, the various branches in which her enterprise has been
influential develop into more distinct and vigorous growth. It may now
be interesting to notice the indications of our own--the nineteenth
century.
The progress of female talent and skill, accelerated toward the close
of the preceding age, has become more remarkable than ever within the
last fifty years. The number of women engaged in the pursuits of art
during that time far exceeds that of the whole preceding century.
This accession is probably owing, in a great measure, to the more
general appreciation of art, growing out of better intellectual
cultivation, and to the growing taste for paintings and statuary as
ornaments of the abodes of the wealthy. But it is due, in some degree,
to the increased freedom of woman--to her liberation from the thraldom
of old-fashioned prejudices and unworthy restraints which, in former
times, fettered her energies, rendered her acquisition of scientific
and artistic knowledge extremely difficult, and threw obstacles in the
way of her devotion to study and the exercise of her talents. We have
seen that, the more enlarged is the sphere of her activity among any
people, the greater is the number of female artists who have done and
are doing well, by their sustained and productive cultivation of art.
At the present time, the prospect is fair of a reward for study and
unfaltering application in woman as in man; her freedom--without
regarding as such the so-called “emancipation,” which would urge her
into a course against nature, and contrary to the gentleness and
modesty of her sex--is greater, and the sphere of her activity is wider
and more effective than it has ever been. The general and growing
apprehension of the importance of female education will gradually lead
to dissatisfaction with the superficial culture of modern schools, and
to the adoption of some plan that shall develop the powers of those
who are taught, and strengthen their energies for the active duties of
life. Many advantages besides these have encouraged the advancement
of women as artists beyond any point reached in preceding ages. We
may thus find an increasing number of young women who, bent on making
themselves independent by their own efforts, spare no pains to qualify
themselves as teachers in various branches of art.
The same observation we made in regard to the increase of art scholars
in the last century is true of the present. The stream which has
widened has grown shallower in proportion; and while the cultivation of
taste and talent has become more general, and many more have attained
a respectable degree of skill, there are few instances of pre-eminent
ability, or of original genius. This seems a law of the world of art,
as well as that of poetry and science; and it holds good no less among
men than women. We must look, therefore, for not many remarkable
examples of talent.
We have already seen something of the influence of Carstens and David
in the bent and direction given to female talent; but these had not
full scope till the beginning of the nineteenth century. David was
inspired by a more earnest feeling than had breathed in the frivolous
and conventional style of a former period; and the depth and vigor,
and more careful execution he brought into vogue, greatly improved the
taste of his day. He may be called the Republican painter, laying the
ground-work of French art as it now exists.
David himself had a goodly number of female pupils, and some of them
displayed no inconsiderable talent. Among them may be enumerated
Constance Marie Charpentier, who, besides, enjoyed the advantage of
instruction under Gérard and Lafitte, with Angélique Mongez, at first
the pupil of David, then of Regnault. She painted a large picture
entirely in the classic style of David. Her painting--the figures life
size--represented “Ulysses finding young Astyanax at Hector’s Grave.”
The design is correct of the antique costume, the disposition is
excellent, and a free and light touch is noticed. So large a picture
had rarely been exhibited in Paris by a woman. This artist, however,
lacked originality and self-reliance, and seemed to follow David too
slavishly. Another large picture was “Alexander weeping at the Death of
the Wife of Darius.” The connoisseurs gave her the credit of a grand
style, but thought her coloring hard.
To these may be added Madame Leroulx and Madame Davin. The latter
received instruction, also, from Suvé and Augustin, and obtained the
gold medal for her miniatures and genre-paintings. Nanine Ballain was
noted for her genre-paintings; and Marie Anne Julie Forestier, for her
romantic ones in this style and for her classic pictures.
Contemporary with these were some female artists who painted in the
manner of Greuze; as Constance Mayer, afterward a disciple and friend
of Prudhon; Madame Elie, and Philiberte Ledoux; the first well known
for her portraits, the latter for her scenes and child-pictures. We may
mention, in passing, Madame Villers, whose numerous works were marked
by truth and pleasing expression. One of her pieces, “A Child asleep in
a Cradle,” carried away by a flood, while a faithful dog plunges in to
save it, with eager expression, is very striking and graceful.
Regnault, the rival of David, had the honor of many more female
scholars. One of them, Madame Anzon, painted large pictures in 1793.
Sophie Guillemard sent to the Exhibition, in 1802, “Alcibiades
and Glycerion,” and, two years later, her “Joseph and Potiphar’s
Wife.” After this, Claire Robineau produced historical pictures and
landscapes, and Rosalie de Lafontaine her delicate genre-paintings.
Aurore Etienne de Lafond and Eugénie Brun obtained medals for their
master-pieces in miniature-painting. Madame Lenoir painted Sage’s
portrait, and was much esteemed. A host of names might be added, were a
mere list desirable.
The disciples and imitators of David also numbered women among
their pupils. Drolling’s daughter, Louise Adéone, studied under his
direction; her first husband was Pagnierre the architect. Fanny Robert
was trained in Girodet’s atelier; Abel de Pujol taught Adrienne Marie
Louise Grandpierre Deverzy; and Gérard finished some of David’s
scholars, as Eléonore Godefroy, who exhibited portraits and copies from
her master after 1810, and Louise de Montferrier, Comtesse de Hugo,
whose genre-paintings were brought to the Exhibition nine years later.
Madame von Butlar, of Dresden, studied under this master in 1823.
These were the latest masters in serious historical painting till
Robert Fleury and Léon Cogniet, who could perhaps boast the greatest
number of gifted female pupils. We should mention here Jeanne Elizabeth
Gabiou, the wife of Antoine Denis Chaudet, born in 1767, and dying
about 1830. She was a pupil of her husband, and painted “A Child
Teaching a Dog to Read,” with many charming little pieces of the kind;
excelling, too, as a portrait-painter. The empress bought one of her
pictures.
The majority of French women artists of this period busied themselves
with portraits. Flower-painting was also much in vogue, and miniature
and porcelain painting furnished continual employment for female
industry and talent.
In modeling and sculpture France has produced some excellent artists
since the commencement of the present century.
MARIE D’ORLEANS.
One in particular, of illustrious station and royal blood, too early
snatched away by death, has conferred lustre upon the whole class by
whom the difficult and delicate art has been cultivated.
Marie of Orleans, the daughter of Louis Philippe, is thus mentioned in
Mrs. Lee’s “Sketches.”
“She was born at Palermo in 1813, and was married in 1837 to Duke
Alexander of Wurtemberg. Her health was impaired, and she went to Pisa
in the hope of recovering, but died there in 1839. Her statue of the
Maid of Orleans is of the size of life, and is placed at Versailles; it
is full of animation and spirit. But her last work, an angel in white
marble, seems to be the result of inspiration. It is in the chapel
of Sablonville, on the sarcophagus of her brother. It may be deeply
lamented that the Princess Marie did not live to give additional proofs
of the capability of her sex for works of sculpture. Her early death
frustrated the efforts of a genius which bade fair to compete with the
graceful forms of Canova or Flaxman.”
Mrs. Lee says, “We were much gratified by seeing a font in the church
St. Germain de l’Auxerrois in Paris, by Madame Lamartine, the wife of
the poet and historian; the font is surrounded by marble angels, who
rest on its margin. It is a beautiful record of her taste, ingenuity,
and benevolence.”
Paris at this period, more emphatically than ever, was the centre
of active efforts among artists. “_Paris--c’est la France_” was an
expression as true as in the literary and political life of the nation.
This was advantageous for the development of talent, and the advance of
skill in details; bringing rival merits more keenly into conflict, and
furnishing the student with more varied means of instruction.
Painting on porcelain became much practiced by French women in the
early part of the present century. Amélie Legris was skilled in it, as
well as in painting in oil, miniatures, and aquarell.
Madame Jacotot was noted for her beautiful paintings on porcelain. She
was sent to Italy by the French government to copy the paintings of
Raphael. She lived in style, was in much society, and was distinguished
for her wit.
Madame Ducluzeau is the wife of a physician, and has gained
considerable celebrity as an artist. The Comtesse de Mirbel painted
miniatures. Louis Philippe, and many persons of his court, and the
nobility, sat to her. She was employed to copy paintings for cadeaus to
royalty.
Madame Aizelin had some charming pieces in pastel in the Paris
Exhibition, 1857. Transparency of tissue was never better rendered than
in her gauze drapery. Madame Fontaine, a pupil of Cogniet, excelled in
the department of still-life. Mademoiselle Augustine Aumont had twelve
panels, giving the flowers of each month. Miss Mutrie, Mademoiselle
Alloin, pupil of Rosa Bonheur, and many other women, were praised for
beautiful groups of fruit and flowers. In this branch, as in portraits,
miniatures, and porcelain-painting, the palm of excellence is awarded
to lady artists. The productions of Madame Herbalin were conspicuous
for delicacy and purity of execution and coloring.
Casting a glance at the condition of art at this period in Germany,
it is noticeable that women took part with enthusiasm in almost every
branch. We have observed the grounding of modern art in this country by
Carstens. He went back to the purer forms of the antique, as his French
contemporary, David, had done; and his restoration of purity, vigor,
and tenderness, found earnest sympathy among his fair countrywomen.
A style expressing the heart’s deepest feelings, and the religious
veneration which had become traditional, could not fail to meet the
aspirations of noble-minded female artists.
Among artist-women who flourished at the close of the eighteenth and
in the present century we may mention Mademoiselle Sonnenschein, who
died in 1816, a member of the Academy in Stuttgard. We should not
drop, among minor names, that of Sophie Ludovika Simanowitz, born
Reighenbach, whose portrait of Schiller is well known.
Magdalena Tischbein, a flower-painter, the daughter of a noted artist,
married the court painter Strack, of Oldenburg, in 1795.
The Princess of Saxe-Meiningen was noted for her beautiful pictures
illustrating Bible history.
Mary Anna Bösenbacher, of Cologne, an engraver, was engaged in the
service of the Elector Max Francis.
Barbara Krafft, born Steiner, of Iglau, painted a number of
genre-pictures of life size, and in this branch was the precursor of
Madame Jerichow-Baumann. She died in Bamberg, in 1825, aged sixty.
One who was busy in Rome at this time was Maria Ellenrieder. She had
before visited the Academy in Munich for the purpose of educating
herself in historical painting. In her works she sought to revive the
spirit of ancient German art, and her longings drew her to the city
which has long been the resort of ambitious art-students, where we find
her in 1820. Among her productions are many altar-pieces, representing
the Holy Family. Some have been lithographed. Since 1825 she has lived
in Germany, where she has completed many works, and has practiced the
art of etching.
Louise Caroline Seidler was at the same time in Rome. Born in Jena,
she studied painting in Munich under Professor Von Langer, afterward
going to Italy to profit by the works of Pietro Perugino and Raphael.
She received the appointment of court painter in Weimar, and executed
several pictures that belong to the romantic genre school. A splendid
fruit of her study of the old masters is a collection of heads taken
from celebrated pictures of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
These were lithographed by Von Schmeller, and published in Weimar in
1836.
Among the German artists in Rome at the same period was Electrine
Stuntz, afterward Baroness von Freiberg. She was the daughter of a
landscape-painter of Strasburg, and devoted herself to historical
pieces. She was in the Eternal City during 1821 and the following
year, and was elected an honorary member of the Academy of San Luca,
occupying a position similar to that held by Angelica Kauffman. Her
works have a serious character, and Madonna pictures abound in them.
About 1823 she was married to Baron von Freiberg, and thenceforward
divided her cares between her family and her art. Several of her
etchings were greatly admired, and brought her high reputation.
Madame Caroline von Schroeter belongs to the same period. She became
distinguished in Rome in 1826 by her beautiful miniature-paintings, and
was there chosen member of the Academy of San Luca.
A few female artists belonged to the Düsseldorf school, while in
Weimar they were indefatigable in supporting the ancient reputation.
But the greatest number is to be found in Berlin. The impetus there
given in various departments of learning, and the patronage of royal
connoisseurs, with the superior cultivation of the people, had the
happiest effect, and brought out the richest bloom of female talent.
No branch of modern art has there been neglected by women, and several
have displayed a genius for sculpture. Dilettanti of the highest rank
have turned their attention to painting; and those who have pursued
art as a profession, from dignified history-pieces down to flowers and
landscapes, have met with encouraging success. In flower-painting and
arabesques some very important improvements have recently been made.
In the other cities of Germany, where women have successfully engaged
in such pursuits, less has been done. Few have taken to the profession
in Vienna, though Dresden has maintained the old repute in this
particular, and her Academy is to this day a genial nursery of female
talent.
Italy, the birthplace of the fine arts, has experienced the change
common to all mundane things, and the participation of her women in
art is by no means so great and significant as in earlier ages. Yet
a few names may be ranked with those who have gone before. Turin,
Milan, and Rome have each produced fair artists of distinction in
various branches, and their success promises to open the way to future
enterprise.
Not so fair is the prospect in Spain and among the Scandinavian
nations. In England, on the other hand, both sculpture and painting
have been successfully cultivated during the present century. We may
mention, in passing, Fanny Corbeaux, an artist and distinguished
Biblical scholar, born in 1812. When she was only fifteen years of
age her father suddenly lost his property, and became indigent. The
daughter had received only superficial instruction in drawing, but
determined to use her small skill to support her father and herself.
With the ardent spirit of youth she threw herself into the undertaking,
sparing herself no severe labor, and so well directed were her efforts
that, before the end of the year, she obtained a silver medal for
water-color drawings. Within the next three years she received another
similar token of approbation, and the gold medal of the Society of Arts.
All this time she had been her own instructor. She afterward painted
small pictures in oil and water-colors, but confined herself chiefly
to portraits. Her superiority in Biblical scholarship was shown by a
valuable series of letters on the Physical Geography of the Exodus. She
published another series entitled “The Rephaim.”
Fanny is described as being small, with figure slightly bent, but
cheerful and charming in manner. Her mother, living with her, is said
to be lively and agile in movement.
Miss Merrifield is the author of a treatise on the Art of Painting.
A “Society of Female Artists” was established in London in 1857.
Among its members, and now secretary to the association, is Mrs.
Elizabeth Murray, the wife of the English Consul at Teneriffe. She
has great celebrity as a water-color artist. Her style is dashing
and vigorous, but highly finished; her coloring bright, transparent,
pure, and sparkling, though something deficient in depth and middle
tint. Mrs. Murray has lately published a book entitled “Sixteen
Years of an Artist’s Life, etc.” She says of herself: “A vagabond
from a baby, I left England at eighteen, independent, having neither
master nor money. My pencil was both to me, and, at the same time, my
strength, my comfort, and my intense delight.” Honorable Mrs. Monckton
Mills, Miss Louisa Rayner, Miss Florence Caxton, and others, are
mentioned with praise. Mrs. Benham Hay is known as the illustrator of
Longfellow’s Poems; and Barbara Leigh Smith, an admirable writer, is an
excellent artist. Of Miss Mutrie’s work Mr. Ruskin says: “It is always
beautiful;” and Miss Howitt and Mrs. Carpenter are noted as artists.
Many whose names are now beginning to be familiar have hardly yet done
justice to their own powers.
The Netherlands have done their share during the present century,
preserving the old Dutch reputation, and producing a number of women
who have made themselves independent by the exercise of skill in
different departments of art.
The encouragement Goëthe has given, in his observations on the women
artists of his day, is applicable to those of the present. They
have taken more firm hold, and manifested yet more ability in the
profession. If many of them have been deficient in creative power, they
have shown themselves capable of the highest excellence in the tender,
the graceful, the pathetic, the ideal, and in the delicacy and quick
perception, which often achieves so much, as by intuition. Dr. Guhl
regards the indications of the present age as exceedingly promising,
and urges women to enlarged ambition and activity. Severe exertions are
demanded, but when was any success worth having commanded without them?
The time is now ripe for their emulation of their most eminent rivals
of the other sex, not by laying aside womanly delicacy, but by labors
entirely consistent with that true modesty which will ever be the most
attractive ornament of the sex. History is the great teacher of the
present; and what we have seen of the achievements of by-gone ages is
so full of encouragement, that it is but reasonable to look for still
greater triumphs in the wider arena now opened, than have yet crowned
the genius or the persevering industry of woman.