Brussels, where the mayor, M. Buls, saw it. Realizing the possibilities
of the method and the skill of the artist, he gave an order to Mme. de
Rudder to decorate the Marriage Hall of the Hotel de Ville. This order
was delivered in 1896. During this period Mme. de Rudder worked
feverishly. About the same time that the order for the Hotel de Ville was
given, she received from M. Van Yssendyck, architect of the Hotel
Provincial in Ghent, a commission to design and embroider six large
allegorical panels. One of them represented 'Wisdom' in the habiliments
of Minerva, modernized, holding an olive branch. The five others were
'Justice,' holding a thistle, symbolizing law; 'Eloquence,' crowned with
roses and holding a lyre; 'Strength,' bending an oak branch; 'Truth,'
crushing a serpent and bearing a mirror and some lilies; and 'Prudence,'
with the horn of plenty and some holly. These six panels are remarkable
for the beautiful decorative feeling that suffuses their composition. The
tricks of workmanship are varied, and all combine to give a wonderful
effect. Contrary to the form of presenting the 'Fates,' all the figures
are draped."
Her next important commission was for eight large panels, intended to
decorate the Congo Free State department in the Brussels Exposition.
These panels represent the "Triumph of Civilization over Barbarism," and
are now in the Museum at Tervueren. They are curious in their symbols of
fetichism, and have an attraction that one can scarcely explain. The
above are but a part of her important works, and naturally, when not
absorbed by these, Mme. de Rudder executes some smaller pieces which are
marvels of patience in their exquisite detail.
Perhaps her panels of the "Four Seasons" may be called her
_chef-d'oeuvre_. The writer quoted above also says:
"To Mme. de Rudder must be given the credit for the interpretation of
work demanding large and varied decorative effect, while in the creation
of true artistic composition she easily stands at the head of the limited
coterie of men and women who have mastered this delicate and difficult
art. She is a leader in her peculiar craft."
<b>RUDE, MME. SOPHIE FRÉMIET.</b> 1797-1867. Medal at Paris Salon, 1833.
Born in Dijon. This artist painted historical and genre subjects as well
as portraits. Her picture of the "Sleeping Virgin," 1831, and that of
the "Arrest of the Duchess of Burgundy in Bruges," 1841, are in the
Dijon Museum.
<b>RUYSCH, RACHEL.</b> The perfection of flower-painting is seen in the
works of Rachel Ruysch. The daughter of a distinguished professor of
anatomy, she was born at Amsterdam in 1664. She was for a time a pupil of
William van Aelst, but soon studied from nature alone. Some art critics
esteem her works superior to those of De Heem and Van Huysum. Let that be
as it may, the pictures with which she was no doubt dissatisfied when
they passed from her hand more than two centuries ago are greatly valued
to-day and her genius is undisputed.
When thirty years old Rachel Ruysch married the portrait painter, Julian
van Pool. She bore him ten children, but in the midst of all her cares
she never laid her brush aside. Her reputation extended to every court of
Europe. She received many honors, and was elected to the Academical
Society at The Hague. She was received with distinguished courtesies on
the two occasions when she visited Düsseldorf.
[Illustration: Alinari, Photo.
In the Pitti Gallery, Florence
FRUIT, FLOWERS, AND INSECTS
RACHEL RUYSCH]
The Elector John of Pfalz appointed her painter at his court, and beyond
paying her generously for her pictures, bestowed valuable gifts on her.
The Elector sent several of her works to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and to
other distinguished rulers of that day.
The advance of years in no wise dulled her powers. Her pictures painted
when eighty years old are as delicately finished as those of many years
earlier. She died when eighty-six, "respected by the great, beloved even
by her rivals, praised by all who knew her."
The pictures by Rachel Ruysch are honorably placed in many public
galleries; in those of Florence and Turin, as well as at Amsterdam, The
Hague, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, and Munich, they are much valued.
Although these pictures are characterized by extreme delicacy of touch,
softness, and lightness, this artist knew how so to combine these
qualities as to impart an effect of strength to her painting. Her
rendering of separate flowers was exquisite, and her roses, either by
themselves or combined with other flowers, are especially beautiful. She
painted fruits in perfection, and the insects and butterflies which she
sometimes added are admirably executed.
The chief criticism that can be made of her pictures is that she was less
skilful in the grouping of her flowers than in their painting. Many of
her works are in private galleries, especially in Holland. They are
rarely sold; in London, about thirty years ago, a small "Bouquet of
Flowers with Insects" was sold for more than two thousand dollars, and is
now of double that value.
Her pictures have the same clearness and individuality that are seen in
her portrait, in which she has short hair, a simple low-cut dress, with a
necklace of beads about the throat.
<b>SALLES, ADELHEID.</b> Born in Dresden, 1825; died in Paris, 1890. Pupil
of Bernhard and Jacquand, she established her studio in Paris. Many of
her works are in museums: "Elijah in the Desert," at Lyons; "The Legend
of the Alyscamps," at Nîmes; "The Village Maiden," at Grenoble; "Field
Flowers," at Havre, etc. She also painted portraits and historical
subjects, among which are "Psyche in Olympus," "The Daughters of
Jerusalem in the Babylonian Captivity," and the "Daughter of Jairus."
She was a sister of E. Puyroche-Wagner.
<b>SARTAIN, EMILY.</b> Medal at Philadelphia Exhibition, 1876; Mary Smith
prize at the Pennsylvania Academy for best painting by a woman, in 1881
and 1883. Born in Philadelphia, 1841. Miss Sartain has been the principal
of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women since 1886.
She studied engraving under her father, John Sartain, and with Luminais
in Paris. She engraved and etched book illustrations and numerous larger
prints. She is also a painter of portraits and genre pictures, and has
exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Miss Sartain has been
appointed as delegate from the United States to the International
Congress on Instruction in Drawing to be held at Berne next August. Her
appointment was recommended by the Secretary of the Interior, the United
States Commissioner of Education, and Prof. J. H. Gore. Miss Sartain has
also received letters from Switzerland from M. Leon Genoud, president of
the Swiss Commission, begging her to accept the appointment.
<b>SCHAEFER, MARIA.</b> First-class medal, Bene-merenti, Roumania. Born in
Dresden, 1854. Her first studies were made in Darmstadt under A. Noack;
later she was a pupil of Budde and Bauer in Düsseldorf, and finally of
Eisenmenger in Vienna. After travelling in Italy in 1879, she settled in
Darmstadt. She made several beautiful copies of Holbein's "Madonna," one
for the King of Roumania, and one as a gift from the city of Darmstadt
to the Czarina Alexandra. Among her most excellent portraits are those of
Friedrich von Schmidt and his son Henry. Several of her religious
paintings ornament German churches: "St. Elizabeth" is at Biedenkopf,
"Mary's Departure from the Tomb of Christ" is at Nierstein, and "Christ
with St. Louis and St. Elizabeth" and a Rosary picture are in the
Catholic church at Darmstadt.
<b>SCHEFFER, CAROLINE.</b> The daughter of Ary Lamme and wife of J. B.
Scheffer was an artist in the last decades of the eighteenth century, but
the special interest connected with her is the fact that she was the
mother of Ary and Henry Scheffer. From her artistic standpoint she had an
appreciation of what was needed for the benefit of her sons. She took
them to Paris to study, devoted herself entirely to their welfare, and
died in Paris in 1839.
<b>SCHLEH, ANNA.</b> Born in Berlin, 1833. Her principal studies were made
in her native city under Schrader, although she went to Rome in 1868, and
finally took up her residence there. She had, previous to her work in
Rome, painted "The Marys at the Grave." Her later pictures include "The
Citron-Vender" and a number of portraits for the Henkel family of
Donnersmark.
<b>SCHMITT-SCHENKH, MARIA.</b> Born in Baden, 1837. She studied her art in
Munich, Carlsruhe, and Italy. She established herself in Munich and
painted pictures for churches, which are in Kirrlach, Mauer,
Ziegelhausen, and other German towns. She also designed church windows,
especially for the Liebfrauenkirche at Carlsruhe.
<b>SCHUMANN, ANNA MARIA.</b> Was called by the Dutch poets their Sappho
and their Corneille. She was born in 1607, but as her family were
Protestants and frequently changed their residence in order to avoid
persecution, the place of her birth is unknown. When Anna Maria was eight
years old, they went permanently to Utrecht.
This distinguished woman was one of the exceptions said to prove rules,
for though a prodigy in childhood she did not become a commonplace or
stupid woman. Learning was her passion and art her recreation. It is
difficult to repeat what is recorded of her unusual attainments and not
feel as if one were being misled by a Munchausen! But it would be
ungracious to lessen a fame almost three centuries old.
We are told that Anna Maria could speak in Latin when seven years old,
and translated from Seneca at ten. She acquired the Hebrew, Greek,
Samaritan, Arabic, Chaldaic, Syriac, Ethiopian, Turkish, and Persian
languages with such thoroughness that her admirers claim that she wrote
and spoke them all. She also read with ease and spoke with finished
elegance Italian, Spanish, English, and French, besides German and her
native tongue.
Anna Maria Schurmann wrote verses in various languages, but the chief end
which her exhaustive studies served was to aid her in theological
research; in this she found her greatest satisfaction and deepest
interest. She was respectfully consulted upon important questions by the
scholars of different countries.
At the University of Utrecht an honorable place was reserved for her in
the lecture-rooms, and she frequently took part in the learned
discussions there. The professors of the University of Leyden paid her
the compliment of erecting a tribune where she could hear all that passed
in the lecture-room without being seen by the audience.
As an artist the Schurmann reached such excellence that the painter
Honthorst valued a portrait by her at a thousand Dutch florins--about
four hundred and thirty dollars--an enormous sum when we remember that
the works of her contemporary, Albert Cuyp, were sold for thirty florins!
and no higher price was paid for his works before the middle of the
eighteenth century. A few years ago his picture, called "Morning Light,"
was sold at a public sale in London for twenty-five thousand dollars. How
astonishing that a celebrated artist like Honthorst, who painted in
Utrecht when Cuyp painted in Dort, should have valued a portrait by Anna
Maria Schurmann at the price of thirty-three works by Cuyp! Such facts as
these suggest a question regarding the relative value of the works of
more modern artists. Will the judgments of the present be thus reversed
in the future?
This extraordinary woman filled the measure of possibilities by carving
in wood and ivory, engraving on crystal and copper, and having a fine
musical talent, playing on several instruments. When it is added that she
was of a lovable nature and attractive in manner, one is not surprised
that her contemporaries called her "the wonder of creation."
Volsius was her friend and taught her Hebrew. She was intimately
associated with such scholars as Salmatius and Heinsius, and was in
correspondence with scholars, philosophers, and theologians regarding
important questions of her time.
Anna Maria Schurmann was singularly free from egotism. She rarely
consented to publish her writings, though often urged to do so. She
avoided publicity and refused complimentary attentions which were urged
upon her, conducting herself with a modesty as rare as her endowments.
In 1664, when travelling with her brother, she became acquainted with
Labadie, the celebrated French enthusiast who preached new doctrines. He
had many disciples called Labadists. He taught that God used deceit with
man when He judged it well for man to be deceived; that contemplation led
to perfection; that self-mortification, self-denial, and prayer were
necessary to a godly life; and that the Holy Spirit constantly made new
revelations to the human beings prepared to receive them.
Anna Maria Schurmann heard these doctrines when prostrated by a double
sorrow, the deaths of her father and brother. She put aside all other
interests and devoted herself to those of the Labadists. It is said that
after the death of Labadie she gathered his disciples together and
conducted them to Vivert, in Friesland. William Penn saw her there, and
in his account of the meeting he tells how much he was impressed by her
grave solemnity and vigorous intellect.
From this time she devoted her fortune to charity and died in poverty at
the age of seventy-one. Besides her fame as an artist and a scholar, her
name was renowned for purity of heart and fervent religious feeling. Her
virtues were many and her few faults were such as could not belong to an
ignoble nature.
<b>SCUDDER, JANET.</b> Medal at Columbian Exposition, 1893. Two of her
medallion portraits are in the Luxembourg, Paris. Member of the National
Sculpture Society, New York. Born in Terre Haute, Indiana. Pupil of
Rebisso in Cincinnati, of Lorado Taft in Chicago, and of Frederic
MacMonnies in Paris.
At the Chicago Exposition Miss Scudder exhibited two heroic-sized statues
representing Illinois and Indiana. The portraits purchased by the French
Government are of American women and are the first work of an American
woman sculptor to be admitted to the Luxembourg. These medallions are in
bas-relief in marble, framed in bronze. Casts from them have been made in
gold and silver. The first is said to be the largest medallion ever made
in gold; it is about four inches long.
[Illustration: A FROG FOUNTAIN
JANET SCUDDER]
To the Pan-American Exposition Miss Scudder contributed four boys
standing on a snail, which made a part of the "Fountain of Abundance."
She has exhibited in New York and Philadelphia a fountain, representing a
boy dancing hilariously and snapping his fingers at four huge frogs round
his pedestal. The water spurts from the mouths of the frogs and covers
the naked child.
Miss Scudder is commissioned to make a portrait statue of heroic size for
the St. Louis Exposition. She will no doubt exhibit smaller works there.
Portraits are her specialty, and in these she has made a success, as is
proved by the appreciation of her work in Paris.
A memorial figure in marble is in Woodlawn Cemetery, also a cinerary urn
in stone and bronze; a bronze memorial tablet is in Union College. Miss
Scudder also made the seal for the Bar Association of New York.
<b>SEARS, SARAH C.</b> Medal at Chicago, 1893; William Evans prize,
American Water-Color Society, New York; honorable mention, Paris
Exposition, 1900; bronze medal at Buffalo, 1901; silver medal at
Charleston, South Carolina. Member of the New York Water-Color Club,
Boston Art Students' Association, National Arts Club, Boston Water-Color
Club. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pupil of Ross Turner, Joseph de
Camp, Edmund C. Tarbell, and George de Forest Brush. Mrs. Sears has also
studied by herself with the criticism of masters.
She paints portraits, figures, and flowers, and is much interested in the
applied arts. Of her exhibition at the Boston Art Club, 1903, a critic
writes: "Nothing could be more brilliant in point of color than the group
of seven water-color pictures of a sunny flower-garden by Mrs. Sears. In
these works pure and limpid color has been pushed to its extreme
capacity, under full daylight conditions, with a splendor of brightness
which never crosses the line of crudity, but holds the same relative
values as we see in nature, the utmost force of local color courageously
set forth and contrasted without apparent artifice, blending into an
harmonious unity of tone. Two of these pictures are especially fine, with
their cool backgrounds of sombre pines to set off the magnificent masses
of flowers in the foreground."
At the exhibition of the Philadelphia Water-Color Club, 1903, the _Press_
said: "These brilliant and overpowering combinations of color carry to
a limit not before reached the decorative possibilities of flowers."
Mrs. Sears' honors have been awarded to her portraits.
<b>SEIDLER, CAROLINE LUISE.</b> Born in Jena, 1786; died in Weimar, 1866.
Her early studies were made in Gotha with Doell; in 1811 she went to
Dresden, where she became a pupil of G. von Kügelgen; in 1817 Langer
received her into his Munich studio; and between 1818 and 1823 she was in
Italy, making special studies of Vanucci and Raphael. In 1823 she was
appointed instructor of the royal princesses at Weimar, and in 1824
inspector of the gallery there, and later became court painter. Among her
works are a portrait of Goethe, a picture of "Ulysses and the Sirens,"
and one of "Christ, the Compassionate," which is in the church at
Schestadt, Holstein.
<b>SERRANO Y BARTOLOMÉ, JOAQUINA.</b> Born in Fermoselle. Pupil in Madrid
of Juan Espalter, of the School of Arts and Crafts, and of the School of
Painting. She sent four pictures to the Exposition of 1876 in Madrid: the
portrait of a young woman, a still-life subject, a bunch of grapes, and a
"Peasant Girl"--the last two are in the Museum of Murcia. In 1878 she
sent "A Kitchen Maid on Saturday," a study, a flower piece, and two
still-life pictures; and in 1881 two portraits and some landscapes. Her
portrait of the painter Fortuny, which belongs to the Society of Authors
and Artists, gained her a membership in that Society. Two other excellent
portraits are those of her teacher, Espalter, and General Trillo.
<b>SEWELL, AMANDA BREWSTER.</b> Bronze medal, Chicago, 1893; bronze medal,
Buffalo, 1901; silver medal, Charleston; Clarke prize, Academy of
Design, 1903. Member of the Woman's Art Club and an associate of National
Academy of Design. Born in Northern New York. Pupil at Cooper Union under
Douglas Volk and R. Swain Gifford, and of Art Students' League under
William Chase and William Sartain; also of Julian's Academy under Tony
Robert Fleury and Bouguereau, and of Carolus Duran.
Mrs. Sewell's "A Village Incident" is owned by the Philadelphia Social
Art Club; "Where Roses Bloom" is in the Boston Art Club; portrait of
Professor William R. Ware is in the Library of Columbia University. Her
portrait of Amalia Küssner will be exhibited and published.
Mrs. Sewell is the first woman to take the Clarke prize. She has been a
careful student in the arrangement of portraits in order to make
attractive pictures as well as satisfactory likenesses. Of the pictures
she exhibited at the Academy of Design, winter of 1903, Charles H. Caffin
writes:
"The portrait of Mrs. Charles S. Dodge, by Mrs. A. Brewster Sewell, is
the finest example in the exhibition of pictorial treatment, the lady
being wrapped in a brown velvet cloak with broad edges of brown fur, and
seated before a background of dark foliage. It is a most distinguished
canvas, though one may object to the too obvious affectation of the
arrangement of the hands and of the gesture of the head--features which
will jar upon many eyes and detract from the general handsomeness. The
same lady sends a large classical subject, the 'Sacred Hecatomb,' to
which the Clarke prize was awarded. It represents a forest scene lit by
slanting sunlight, through which winds a string of bulls, the foremost
accompanied by a band of youths and maidens with dance and song. The
light effects are managed very skilfully and with convincing truth, and
the figures are free and animated in movement, though the flesh tints are
scarcely agreeable. It is a decorative composition that might be fitly
placed in a large hall in some country house."
<b>SEYDELMANN, APOLLONIE.</b> Member of the Dresden Academy. Born at
Trieste about 1768; died in Dresden, 1840. Pupil of J. C. Seydelmann,
whom she married. Later she went to Italy and there studied miniature
painting under Madame Maron.
She is best known for her excellent copies of old pictures, and
especially by her copy of the Sistine Madonna, from which Müller's
engraving was made.
<b>SHAW, ANNIE C.</b> The first woman elected Academician in the Academy of
Design, Chicago, 1876. Born at Troy, New York. Pupil of H. C. Ford.
Landscape painter. Among her works are "On the Calumet," "Willow Island,"
"Keene Valley, New York," "Returning from the Fair," 1878, which was
exhibited in Chicago, New York, and Boston. To the Centennial,
Philadelphia, 1876, she sent her "Illinois Prairie."
"Returning from the Fair" shows a group of Alderney cattle in a road
curving through a forest. At the time of its exhibition an art critic
wrote: "The eye of the spectator is struck with the rich mass of foliage,
passing from the light green of the birches in the foreground, where the
light breaks through, to the dark green of the dense forest, shading into
the brownish tints of the early September-tinged leaves. Farther on, the
eye is carried back through a beautiful vista formed by the road leading
through the centre of the picture, giving a fine perspective and distance
through a leafy archway of elms and other forest trees that gracefully
mingle their branches overhead, through which one catches a glimpse of
deep blue sky. As the eye follows this roadway to its distant part the
sun lights up the sky, tingeing with a mellow light the group of small
trees and willows, contrasting beautifully with the almost sombre tones
of the dense forest in the middle distance."
<b>SHRIMPTON, ADA M.</b> Has exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal
Institute of Water-Colors, British Artists, and principal provincial
galleries in England and in Australia; also at the Paris Salon. Member of
Society of Women Artists, London. Born in Old Alresford, Hampshire. Pupil
of John Sparkes at South Kensington, and of Jean Paul Laurens and
Benjamin Constant in Paris.
This artist has painted principally figure subjects, among which are
"Cedric's Daughter," "Thoughts of Youth are Long Thoughts," "Dream of the
Past," "Pippa Passes," "Dorothy's Bridesmaid's Dress," etc., etc.
Recently she has devoted herself to portraits of ladies and children, in
both oil and water-colors.
<b>SIRANI, ELISABETTA.</b> Has been praised as a woman and as an artist by
Lanzi, Malvasia, Picinardi, and other writers until one must believe that
in spite of the exaggeration of her personal qualities and her artistic
genius, she was a singularly admirable woman and a gifted artist.
She was born in Bologna about 1640, and, like Artemisia Gentileschi, was
the daughter of a painter of the school of Guido Reni, whose follower
Elisabetta also became. From the study of her master she seems to have
acquired the power to perceive and reproduce the greatest possible beauty
with which her subjects could be invested.
She worked with such rapidity that she was accused of profiting by her
father's assistance, and in order to refute this accusation it was
arranged that the Duchess of Brunswick, the Duchess of Mirandola, Duke
Cosimo, and others should meet in her studio, on which occasion
Elisabetta charmed and astonished her guests by the ease and perfection
with which she sketched in and shaded drawings of the subjects which one
person after another suggested to her.
Her large picture of the "Baptism of Christ" was completed when the
artist was but twenty years old. Malvasia gives a list of one hundred and
twenty pictures executed by Elisabetta, and yet she was but twenty-five
when her mysterious death occurred.