d'Affry. Born at Fribourg, Switzerland, 1837, and died at Castellamare,
1879. Her early manner was that of the later Cinquecento, but she
afterward adopted a rather bombastic and theatrical style. Her only
statue, a Pythia, in bronze was placed in the Grand Opera at Paris
(1870). In the Luxembourg Museum are marble busts of Bianca Capello
(1863) and an "Abyssinian Sheikh" (1870). A "Gorgon" (1865), a "Saviour"
(1875), "La Bella Romana" (1875) are among her other works. She left her
art treasures, valued at about fifty thousand francs, to the Cantonal
Museum at Fribourg, where they occupy a separate room, called the
Marcello Museum.
<b>MARCOVIGI, CLEMENTINA.</b> Born in Bologna, where she resides. Flower
pieces exhibited by her at Turin in 1884 and at Venice in 1887 were
commended for perfection of design and charm of color.
<b>MARIA FEODOROVNA,</b> wife of the Czar Peter I. As Princess Dorothea
Auguste Sophie of Würtemberg she was born at Trepton in 1759, and died at
Petersburg in 1858. She studied under Leberecht, and engraved medals and
cameos, many of which are portraits of members of the royal family and
are in the royal collection at Petersburg. She was elected to the Berlin
Academy in 1820.
<b>MARIANI, VIRGINIA.</b> Honorary member of the Umbrian Academy and of the
Academy of the Virtuosi of the Pantheon. Born in Rome, 1824, where she
has met with much success in decorating pottery, as well as in oil and
water-color paintings. The Provincial Exposition at Perugia in 1875
displayed her "Mezze Figure," which was highly commended. She has
decorated cornices, with flowers in relief, as well as some vases that
are very beautiful. Besides teaching in several institutions and
receiving private pupils, she has been an inspector, in her own
department of art, of the municipal schools of Rome.
<b>MARIE, DUCHESS OF WÜRTEMBERG.</b> Daughter of Louis Philippe, and wife
of Duke Frederick William Alexander of Würtemberg. Born at Palermo, 1813,
and died at Pisa, 1839. She studied drawing with Ary Scheffer. Her statue
of "Jeanne d'Arc" is at Versailles; in the Ferdinand Chapel, in the Bois
de Boulogne, is the "Peri as a Praying Angel"; in the Saturnin Chapel at
Fontainebleau is a stained-glass window with her design of "St. Amalia."
Among her other works are "The Dying Bayard," a relief representing the
legend of the Wandering Jew, and a bust of the Belgian Queen. Many of her
drawings are in possession of her family. She also executed some
lithographs, such as "Souvenirs of 1812," 1831, etc.
<b>MARIE LOUISE, EMPRESS OF FRANCE.</b> 1791-1846. She studied under
Prud'hon. Her "Girl with a Dove" is in the Museum of Besançon.
<b>MARLEF, CLAUDE.</b> Bronze medal at Paris Exposition, 1900. Associate of
the French National Society of Fine Arts (Beaux-Arts). Born at Nantes.
Pupil of A. Roll, Benjamin Constant, Puvis de Chavannes, and Dagnaux.
Mme. Marlef is a portrait painter. Her picture, "Manette Salomon," is in
the Hotel de Ville, Paris; the "Nymphe Accroupie" is in the Municipal
Museum of Nantes. Among her portraits of well-known women are those of
Jane Hading, Elsie de Wolfe, Bessie Abbott of the Opera, Rachel Boyer of
the Theatre Français, Marguerite Durand, Editeur de la Fronde, Mlle.
Richepin, and many others.
Mme. Marlef has the power of keen observation, so necessary to a painter
of portraits. Although there is a certain element of soft tenderness in
her pictures, the bold virility of her drawing misled the critics, who
for a time believed that her name was used to conceal the personality of
a man. A critic in the Paris _World_ writes of this artist: "She has
exquisite color sense and delights in presenting that _exaltation de la
vie_, that love, radiance, and joy of life, which are at once the secret
of the success and the keynote of the masterful canvases of Roll, in
whose studio were first developed Claude Marlef's delicate qualities of
truthful perception in the portraiture of woman.... Her perceptions being
rapid, she has a remarkable instantaneous insight, enabling her to fix
the dominant feature and soul of expression in each of the various types
among her numerous sitters."
Mme. Marlef's family name is Lefebure. Her husband died in 1891, the year
after their marriage, and she then devoted herself to the serious study
of painting, which she had practised from childhood. She first exhibited
at the Salon, 1895, and has exhibited annually since then. In 1902 she
sent her own portrait, and in 1903 that of Bessie Abbott, to the
Exhibition of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
<b>MARTIN DE CAMPO, VICTORIA.</b> Member of the Academy of Fine Arts of
Cadiz, her native city. In the different expositions of this and other
Andalusian capitals she has exhibited since 1840 many works, including
portraits, genre, historical pictures, and copies. Among them may be
mentioned "Susanna in the Bath," "David Playing the Harp before Saul," a
"Magdalen," a "Cupid," a "Boy with a Linnet," and a "Nativity." Some of
these were awarded prizes. In the Chapel of Relics in the new Cathedral
at Cadiz are her "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" and a "Mater Dolorosa."
<b>MARTINEAU, EDITH.</b> Associate of Royal Society of Painters in
Water-Colors; member of the Hampstead Art Society. Born in Liverpool,
where she made her first studies in the School of Art, and later became a
pupil of the Royal Academy Schools, London.
Her pictures are not large and are principally figures or figures in
landscape, and all in water-colors. She writes very modestly that so many
are sold and in private hands that she will give no list of subjects.
<b>MASSARI, LUIGIA.</b> Medal at Piacenza, 1869, and several other medals
from art societies. Born at Piacenza, 1810. Pupil of A. Gemmi. Her works
are in a number of churches: "St. Martin" in the church at Altoé; "St.
Philomena" in the church at Busseto; the "Madonna del Carmine" and "St.
Anna" in the church at Monticelli d'Ongina. This artist was also famous
for her beautiful embroidery, as seen in her altar-cloths, one of which
is in the Guastafredda Chapel at Piacenza. The fruits and flowers
produced by her needle are marvellously like those in her pictures.
<b>MASSEY, MRS. GERTRUDE.</b> Member of the Society of Miniaturists. Born
in London, 1868. Has studied with private teachers in London and Paris.
This painter has made a specialty of miniatures and of pictures of dogs.
She has been extensively employed by various members of the royal family,
of whom she painted eleven miniatures, among which was one of the late
Queen.
She sends me a list of several pictures of dogs and "Pets," all belonging
to titled English ladies; also a long list of miniatures of gentlemen,
ladies, and children of high degree, several being of the royal family,
in addition, I suppose, to the eleven mentioned above.
She writes me: "Constantly met King and Queen and other members. Sittings
took place at Windsor Castle, Sandringham, Marlborough House, Osborne,
and Balmoral. One dog died after first sitting; had to finish from dead
dog. Live in charming little cottage with _genuine_ old-fashioned garden
in St. John's Wood."
Mrs. Massey has exhibited at the Royal Academy and New Gallery, and has
held a special exhibition of her pictures of dogs at the Fine Art
Society, New Bond Street, London.
<b>MASSIP, MARGUERITE.</b> Member of the Society of Swiss Painters and
Sculptors and of the Society of Arts and Letters, Geneva. Born at Geneva.
Made her studies in Florence and Paris under the professors in the public
schools. Her picture of "Le Buveur" is in the Museum of Geneva; "Five
o'Clock Tea," also in a Geneva Museum; "La Bohemienne" is at Nice; "The
Engagement"--a dancer--at St. Gall, and a large number of portraits in
various cities, belonging to their subjects and their families.
Her portrait of Mme. M. L. was very much praised when exhibited in
proximity with the works of some of the famous French artists. One critic
writes: "The painting is firm and brilliant. The hands are especially
beautiful; we scarcely know to whom we can compare Mme. Massip, unless
to M. Paul Dubois. They have the same love of art, the same soberness of
tone, the same scorn of artifice.... The woman who has signed such a
portrait is a great artist." It is well known that the famous sculptor is
a remarkable portraitist.
In a review of the Salon at Nice we read: "A portrait by Mme. Massip is a
magnificent canvas, without a single stroke of the charlatan. The pose is
simple and dignified; there is the serenity and repose of a woman no
longer young, who makes no pretension to preserve her vanishing beauty;
the costume, in black, is so managed that it would not appear
superannuated nor ridiculous at any period. The execution is that of a
great talent and an artistic conscience. It is not a portrait for a
bedchamber, still less for a studio; it is a noble souvenir for a family,
and should have a place in the salon, in which, around the hearth, three
generations may gather, and in this serene picture may see the wife, the
mother, and the grandmother, when they mourn the loss of her absolute
presence."
<b>MASSOLIEN, ANNA.</b> Born at Görlitz, 1848. A pupil of G. Gräf and of
the School of Women Artists in Berlin. Her portraits of Field Marshal von
Steinmetz, Brückner, and G. Schmidt by their excellence assured the
reputation of this artist, whose later portraits are greatly admired.
<b>MATHILDE, PRINCESS.</b> Medal at Paris Salon, 1865. Daughter of King
Jerome Bonaparte. Born at Trieste, 1820; died at Paris, 1904. Pupil of
Eugene Giraud. She painted genre subjects in water-colors. Her medal
picture, "Head of a Young Girl," is in the Luxembourg; "A Jewess of
Algiers," 1866, is in the Museum of Lille; "The Intrigue under the
Portico of the Doge's Palace" was painted in 1865.
<b>MATHILDE CAROLINE,</b> Grand Duchess of Hesse. Was born Princess of
Bavaria. 1813-1863. Pupil of Dominik Onaglio. In the New Gallery at
Munich are two of her pictures--"View of the Magdalen Chapel in the
Garden at Nymphenburg," 1832, and "Outlook on the Islands, Procida and
Ischia," 1836.
<b>MATTON, IDA.</b> Two grand prizes and a purse, also a travelling purse
from the Government of Sweden; honorable mention at the Paris Salon,
1896; honorable mention, Paris Exposition, 1900; prize for sculpture at
the Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs, 1903. Decorated with the
"palmes académique" of President Loubet, 1903. Member of the Union des
femmes peintres et sculpteurs, Paris. Born at Gefle, Sweden. Pupil of the
Technical School, Stockholm, and of H. Chapu, A. Mercie, and D. Puech at
Paris.
[Illustration: In Cemetery In Gefle, Sweden
MONUMENT FOR A TOMB
IDA MATTON]
Among the works of this artist are "Mama!" a statue in marble; "Loké," a
statue; "Dans les Vagues," a marble bust; "Funeral Monument," in bronze,
in Gefle, Sweden; and a great number of portrait busts and various
subjects in bas-relief.
At the Salon des Artistes Français, 1902, she exhibited four portraits,
and in 1903, "Confidence."
<b>MAURY, CORNELIA F.</b> Member of St. Louis Artists' Guild and Society of
Western Artists. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Pupil of St. Louis
School of Fine Arts and of Julian Academy, under Collin and Merson. At
the Salon of 1900 her picture, "Mother and Child," was hung on the line.
Miss Maury has made an especial study of child life. Among her pictures
are "Little Sister," "Choir Boy," "Late Breakfast," and "First Steps."
The latter picture and the "Baby in a Go-Cart" have been published in the
Copley Prints.
"Cornelia F. Maury is most successful in portrayals of childhood. Her
small figures are simple, unaffected, with no suggestion of pose. They
convey that delightful feeling of unconsciousness in the subject that is
always so charming either in nature or in artistic expression. The pastel
depicting the flaxen-haired child in blue dress drawing a tiny cart is
exceedingly artistic, and the same may be said of a pastel showing a
small child in a Dutch high-chair near a window. A third picture--also a
pastel--represents a choir-boy in a red robe, red cap, and white
surplice, sitting in a high-backed, carved chair, holding a book in his
hand. Miss Maury really has produced nothing finer than this last. It is
a most excellent work."--_The Mirror, St. Louis,_ April 10, 1902.
<b>MAYREDER-OBERMAYER, ROSE.</b> Born in Vienna, 1858. Pupil of Darnaut and
Charmont. The works of this successful painter of flowers and still-life
have been exhibited in Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, and Chicago. She has a
broad, sure touch quite unusual in water-colors. She has also executed
some notable decorative works, one of which, "November," has attracted
much attention.
<b>MCCROSSAN, MARY.</b> Silver and bronze medals, Liverpool; silver medal
and honorable mention, Paris. Has exhibited at Royal Academy, London,
at Royal Institute of Oil Colors, and many other English and Scotch
exhibitions. Member of Liverpool Academy of Arts and of the Liverpool
Sketching Club. Born in Liverpool. Studied at Liverpool School of Art
under John Finnie; Paris, under M. Delécluse; St. Ives, Cornwall, under
Julius Ollson.
The principal works of this artist are marine subjects and landscapes,
and are mostly in private collections.
In the _Studio,_ November, 1900, we read: "Miss McCrossan's exhibition of
pictures and sketches displayed a pleasant variety of really clever work,
mostly in oils, with a few water-colors and pastels. In each medium her
color is strong, rich, and luminous, and her drawing vigorous and
certain.
"While this artist's landscape subjects are intelligently selected and
attractively rendered, there is unusual merit in her marine pictures,
composed mainly from the fisher-craft of the Isle of Man and the
neighborhood of St. Ives, and recording effects of brilliant sunshine
lighting up white herring boats lying idly on intensely reflective blue
sea, or aground on the harbor mud at low tide. There is a fascination in
the choice color treatment of these characteristic pictures."
<b>MCLAUGHLIN, MARY LOUISE M.</b> Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1878;
silver medal, Paris Exposition, 1889; gold medal, Atlanta, 1895; bronze
medal, Buffalo, 1900. Member of the Society of Arts, London; honorary
member of National Mineral Painters' League, Cincinnati. Born in
Cincinnati, Ohio. Pupil of Cincinnati Art Academy and of H. F. Farny and
Frank Duveneck in private classes.
Miss McLaughlin has painted in oil and water-colors and exhibited in
various places, as indicated by the honors she has received. Having
practised under- and over-glaze work on pottery, as well as porcelain
etching and decorative etching on metals, she is now devoting herself to
making the porcelain known as Losanti Ware.
Of a recent exhibition, 1903, a critic wrote: "Perhaps the most beautiful
and distinguished group in the exhibition is that of Miss McLaughlin, one
of the earliest artistic workers in clay of the United States. She sends
a collection of lovely porcelain vases, of a soft white tone and charming
in contour. Some of these have open-work borders, others are decorated in
relief, and the designs are tinted with delicate jade greens, dark blues,
or salmon pinks. This ware goes by the name of Losanti, from the early
name of Cincinnati, L'Osantiville."
This artist has written several books on china painting and pottery
decoration.
<b>MCMANUS MANSFIELD, BLANCHE.</b> Diplomas from the New Orleans Centennial
and the Woman's Department, Chicago, 1903. Member of the New Vagabonds,
London, and the Touring Club of France. Born in East Feliciana Parish,
Louisiana, this artist has made her studies in London and Paris. Her
principal work has been done in book illustrations. The following list
gives some of her most important publications:
"Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass." De
Luxe edition in color. New York, 1899.
"The Calendar of Omar Khayyam." In color. New York, 1900.
"The Altar Service." Thirty-six wood-cut blocks printed on
Japan vellum. London, 1902.
"The Coronation Prayer-Book." (Wood-cut borders.) Oxford
University Press, 1902.
"Cathedrals of Northern France." In collaboration with Francis
Miltoun. Boston and London, 1903.
"Cathedrals of Southern France." In collaboration with Francis
Miltoun. Sold for publication in London and Boston, 1904.
"A Dante Calendar." London, 1903.
"A Rubaiyat Calendar." Boston, 1903.
"The King's Classics." (Designs and Decorations.) London,
1902-1903.
"The Book of Days." A Calendar. Sold in London for 1904.
After speaking of several works by Miss McManus, a notice from London
says: "A more difficult or at least a more intricate series were the
designs cut on wood for 'The Altar Service Book,' just issued in London
by that newly founded venture, the De La More Press; which has drawn unto
itself such scholars as Dr. Furnival, Professor Skeat, and Israel
Gollancz. These designs by Miss McManus were printed direct from the wood
blocks in very limited editions, on genuine vellum, on Japanese vellum,
and a small issue on a real sixteenth-century hand-made paper. The
various editions were immediately taken up in London on publication;
hence it is unlikely that copies will be generally seen in America.
[Illustration: DELFT
BLANCHE McMANUS MANSFIELD]
"We learn, however, that the original wood blocks will be shown at the
St. Louis Exposition, in the section to be devoted to the work of
American artists resident abroad. We suggest that all lovers of
latter-day bookmaking 'make a note of it,' recalling meanwhile that it
was this successful American designer who produced also the decorative
wood-cut borders and initials which were used in 'The Coronation
Prayer-Book of King Edward VII.,' issued from the celebrated Oxford
University Press. There were forty initials or headings, embodying the
coronation regalia, including the crown, sceptre, rose, thistle,
shamrock, etc. The magnificent cover for the book was also designed by
this artist.
"Among the American artists who have made a distinctive place in art
circles, not only in America but on 'the other side,' is Mrs. M. F.
Mansfield, formerly Blanche McManus of Woodville, Mississippi.
"In London she is widely known as a skilful, able, and versatile artist,
and her remarkable success there is an illustration of 'the American
invasion.' Little has been written in America, especially in the South,
of what this talented Southern woman has accomplished. She has never
sought personal advertisement; on the contrary, she has shrunk from any
kind of publicity--even that which would have accrued from a proper
valuation of her work.
"She is one of those artists whose talent is equalled only by her
modesty, who, enamoured of her art and aiming at a patient, painstaking
realization of her ideal, has been content to work on in silence. In the
estimation of art connoisseurs, Blanche McManus is an artist of
unquestionable talent and varied composition, who has already done much
striking work. Her execution in the various branches has attracted
international attention.
"She paints well in water-colors and in oil, and her etching is
considered excellent. Her drawing is stamped good, and every year she has
showed rapid improvement in design. She is a highly cultivated woman,
with a close and accurate observation. A sincere appreciation of nature
was revealed in her earliest efforts, and for some years she devoted much
time to its study."
Moring's _Quarterly_ says in regard to the special work which Mrs.
Mansfield has done: "It is so seldom that an artist is able to take in
hand what may be termed the entire decoration of a book--including in
that phrase cover, illustration, colophon, head- and tail-pieces, initial
letters, and borders--that it is a pleasure to find in the subject of our
paper a lady who may be said to be capable of taking all these points
into consideration in the embellishment of a volume."
<b>MEDICI, MARIE DE'.</b> Wife of Henry IV. Born at Florence, 1573; died at
Cologne, 1642. A portrait of herself, engraved on wood, bears the legend,
"Maria Medici F. MDLXXXII." Another portrait of a girl, attributed to
her, is signed, "L. O. 1617." It may be considered a matter of grave
doubt whether the nine-year-old girl drew and engraved with her own hand
the first-named charming picture, which has been credited to her with
such frank insouciance.
<b>MENGS, ANNA MARIA.</b> Member of the Academy of San Fernando. She was a
daughter of Anton Rafael Mengs, and was born in Dresden in 1751, where
she received instruction from her father. In 1777 she married the
engraver Salvador Carmona in Rome, and went with him to Spain, where she
died in 1790. Portraits and miniatures of excellent quality were
executed by her, and on them her reputation rests.
<b>MERIAN, MARIA SIBYLLA.</b> Born at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1647. This
artist merits our attention, although her art was devoted to an unusual
purpose. Her father was a learned geographer and engraver whose published
works are voluminous. Her maternal grandfather was the eminent engraver,
Theodore de Bry or Brie.
From her childhood Anna Sibylla Merian displayed an aptitude for drawing
and a special interest in insect life. The latter greatly disturbed her
mother, but she could not turn the child's attention from entomology, and
was forced to allow that study to become her chief pursuit.
The flower painter, Abraham Mignon, was her master in drawing and
painting; but at an early age, before her studies were well advanced, she
married an architect, John Andrew Graf, of Nuremberg, with whom she lived
unhappily. She passed nearly twenty years in great seclusion, and, as she
tells us in the preface to one of her books, she devoted these years to
the examination and study of various insects, watching their
transformations and making drawings from them. Many of these were in
colors on parchment and were readily sold to connoisseurs.
Her first published work was called "The Wonderful Transformations of
Caterpillars." It appeared in 1679, was fully illustrated by copper plate
engravings, executed by herself from her own designs. About 1684 she
separated from her husband, and with her daughters returned to Frankfort.
Many interesting stories are told of her life there.
She made a journey to Friesland and was a convert to the doctrines of
Labadie, but she was still devoted to her study and research. She was
associated with the notable men of her time, and became the friend of the
father of Rachel Ruysch. Although Madame Merian, who had taken her maiden
name, was seventeen years older than the gifted flower painter, she
became to her an example of industry and devotion to study.
Madame Merian had long desired to examine the insects of Surinam, and in
1699, by the aid of the Dutch Government, she made the journey--of which
a French poet wrote:
"Sibylla à Surinam va chercher la nature,
Avec l'esprit d'un Sage, et le coeur d'un Heros"
--which indicates the view then held of a journey which would now attract
no attention.
While in Guiana some natives brought her a box filled with "lantern
flies," as they were then called. The noise they made at night was so
disturbing that she liberated them, and the flies, regaining liberty,
flashed out their most brilliant light, for which Madame Merian was
unprepared, and in her surprise dropped the box. From this circumstance a
most exaggerated idea obtained concerning the illuminating power of the
flies.
The climate of Surinam was so unhealthy for Madame Merian that she could
remain there but two years, and in that time she gathered the materials
for her great work called "Metamorphoses Insectorum Surinamensium," etc.
The illustrations were her own, and she pictured many most interesting
objects--animals and vegetables as well as insects--which were quite
unknown in Europe. Several editions of this book were published both in
German and French. Her plates are still approved and testify to the scope
and thoroughness of her research, as well as to her powers as an artist.