1861. Born at Lyons. Pupil of Leon Cogniet. Portrait and figure painter.
Among her pictures the following are noticeable: "Flora McIvor and Rose
Bradwardine," 1848; "Portrait of Abbé Jacquet," 1859; "Portrait of a
Lady," 1861.
<b>THOMAS-SOYER, MME. MATHILDE.</b> Honorable mention, 1880; third-class
medal, 1881; bronze medal, Exposition, 1889. Born at Troyes, 1859. Pupil
of Chapu and Cain. The principal works of this sculptor are: "A Russian
Horse"; "Lost Dogs"; "Russian Greyhounds"; "Huntsmen and a Poacher," in
the Museum of Semur; "Combat of Dogs," purchased by the Government; "Cow
and Calf," in the Museum of Nevers; "Stag and Bloodhound," in the Museum
of Troyes, etc.
At the Salon, Artistes Français, 1902, Mme. Thomas-Soyer exhibited "An
Irish Setter and a Laverock," and in 1903 "Under the White Squall."
<b>THORNYCROFT, MARY.</b> Born 1814; died 1895. Daughter of John Francis,
the sculptor, whose pupil she was. This artist exhibited at the Royal
Academy when very young. Her first important work was a life-size figure
called "The Flower-Girl." In 1840 she married Thomas Thornycroft, and
went to Rome two years later, spending a year in study there. Queen
Victoria, after her return, commissioned her to execute statues of the
royal children as the Four Seasons. These were much admired when
exhibited at the Academy. Later she made portrait statues and busts of
many members of the royal family, which were also seen at the Academy
Exhibition.
In his "Essays on Art," Palgrave wrote: "Sculpture has at no time
numbered many successful followers among women. We have, however, in Mrs.
Thornycroft, one such artist who, by some recent advance and by the
degrees of success which she has already reached, promises fairly for the
art. Some of this lady's busts have refinement and feeling."
<b>THURBER, CAROLINE NETTLETON.</b> Born in Oberlin, Ohio. Pupil of Howard
Helmick in Washington, and of Benjamin Constant and Jean Paul Laurens in
Paris.
In 1898 Mrs. Thurber took a studio in Paris, where her first work was the
portrait of a young violinist, which was exhibited in the Salon of the
following spring. This picture met with immediate favor with the public,
the art critics, and the press. The Duchess of Sutherland, upon seeing
it, sent for the artist and arranged for a portrait of her daughter,
which was painted the following autumn while Mrs. Thurber was a guest at
Dunrobin Castle. This portrait was subsequently exhibited in London and
Liverpool.
Mrs. Thurber has painted portraits of many persons of distinction in
Paris, among them one of Mlle. Ollivier, only daughter of Émile Ollivier,
president of the Académie Française. Monsieur Ollivier, in a personal
note to the artist, made the following comment upon the portrait of his
daughter: "How much I thank you for the portrait of my daughter; it
lives, so powerfully is it colored, and one is tempted to speak to it."
Mrs. Thurber is an exhibitor in the Salon, Royal Academy, and New
Gallery, London, and other foreign exhibitions, as well as in those of
this country.
She now has a studio in the family home at Bristol, Rhode Island, on
Narragansett Bay, where she works during half the year. In winter she
divides her time among the larger cities as her orders demand. While Mrs.
Thurber's name is well known through her special success in the
portraiture of children, she has painted many prominent men and women in
Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and New England.
Among her later portraits are those of Mrs. James Sullivan, one of the
lady commissioners of the St. Louis Exposition; Lieut.-Gen. Nelson A.
Miles; Albert, son of Dr. Shaw, editor of the _Review of Reviews_; Mrs.
A. A. F. Johnston, former Dean of Oberlin College; Augustus S. Miller,
mayor of Providence; Hon. L. F. C. Garvin, governor of Rhode Island; and
Judge Austin Adams, late of the Supreme Court of Iowa.
<b>THURWANGER, FELICITÉ CHASTANIER.</b> This remarkable artist, not long
since, when eighty-four years old, sent to the exhibition at Nice--which
is, in a sense, a branch of the Paris Salon--three portraits which she
had just finished. "They were hung in the place of honor and unanimously
voted to belong to the first class."
Mme. Thurwanger was the pupil of Delacroix during five years. The master
unconsciously did his pupil an injury by saying to her father: "That
daughter of yours is wonderfully gifted, and if she were a man I would
make a great artist of her." Hearing this, the young artist burst into
tears, and her whole career was clouded by the thought that her sex
prevented her being a really great artist, and induced in her an abnormal
modesty. This occurred about forty-five years ago; since then we have
signally changed all that!
Delacroix, who was an enthusiast in color, was the leader of one school
of his time, and was opposed by Ingres, who was so wanting in this regard
that he was accused of being color-blind.
Mme. Thurwanger had a curious experience with these artists. When but
seventeen she was commissioned by the Government to copy a picture in the
Louvre. One morning, when she was working in the Gallery, Ingres passed
by and stopped to look at her picture. He examined it carefully, and with
an expression of satisfaction said: "I am so very glad to see that you
have the true idea of art! Remember always that there is no color in
Nature; the outline is all; if the outline is good, no matter about the
coloring, the picture will be good."
This story would favor the color-blind theory, as Ingres apparently saw
color neither in the original nor the copy.
An hour later Delacroix came to watch the work of his pupil, and after a
few minutes exclaimed: "I am so happy, my dear girl, to see that you have
the true and only spirit of art. Never forget that in Nature there is no
line, no outline; everything is color!"
In 1852 Mme. Thurwanger was in Philadelphia and remained more than two
years. She exhibited her pictures, which were favorably noticed by the
Philadelphia _Enquirer_. In July of the above year her portraits were
enthusiastically praised. "Not a lineament, not a feature, however
trivial, escapes the all-searching eye of the artist, who has the happy
faculty of causing the expression of the mind and soul to beam forth in
the life-like and speaking face."
In October, 1854, her picture of a "Madonna and Child" was thus noticed
by the same paper: "For brilliancy, animation, maternal solicitude, form,
grace, and feature, it would be difficult to imagine anything more
impressive. It is in every sense a gem of the pictorial art, while the
execution and finish are such as genius alone could inspire."
<b>TIRLINKS, LIEWENA.</b> Born in Bruges, a daughter of Master Simon. This
lady was not only esteemed as an artist in London, but she won the heart
of an English nobleman, to whom she was given in marriage by Henry VIII.
Her miniatures were much admired and greatly in fashion at the court.
Some critics have thought the Tirlinks to be the same person with Liewena
Bennings or Benic, whose story, as we know it, is much the same as the
above.
<b>TORMOCZY, BERTHA VON.</b> Diploma of honor, Budapest and Agram. Born at
Innspruck, 1846. Pupil of Hausch, Her, and Schindler. Among her pictures
are "Girl in the Garden," "Blossoming Meadows," "Autumn Morning," and a
variety of landscapes.
<b>TORO, PETRONELLA.</b> A painter of miniatures on ivory which have
attained distinction. Among those best known are the portraits of the
Prince of Carignano, Duke Amadeo, and the Duchess d'Aosta with the sons
of the Prince of Carignano. She has painted a young woman in an antique
dress and another in a modern costume. Her works are distinguished by
firmness of touch and great intelligence. She has executed some most
attractive landscapes.
<b>TREU, OR TREY, KATHARINA.</b> Born at Bamberg. 1742-1811. A successful
painter of flowers and still-life. Her talent was remarkable when but a
child, and her father, who was her only master, began her lessons when
she was ten years old. When still young she was appointed court painter
at Mannheim, and in 1776 was made a professor in the Academy at
Düsseldorf. Her pictures are in the Galleries of Bamberg and Carlsruhe,
and in the Darmstadt and Stuttgart Museums.
<b>URRUTIA DE URMENETA, ANA GERTRUDIS DE.</b> Member of the Academy of Fine
Arts, Cadiz, 1846. Born in Cadiz. 1812-1850. She began the study of
drawing with Javier, and after her marriage to Juan José de Urmeneta,
professor of painting and sculpture and director of the Cadiz Academy,
continued her work under his direction. A "St. Filomena" and
"Resurrection of the Body," exhibited in 1846, are among her best
pictures. Her "St. Jeronimo" is in the new cathedral at Cadiz, and the
Academy has shown respect to her memory by placing her portrait in the
room in which its sessions are held.
<b>VIANI, MARIA.</b> Born at Bologna. 1670-1711. I find no reliable
biographical account of this artist, whose name appears in the catalogue
of the Dresden Gallery as the painter of the "Reclining Venus, lying on a
blue cushion, with a Cupid at her side."
<b>VERELST, MARIAN.</b> Born in 1680. This artist belonged in Antwerp and
was of the celebrated artistic family of her name. She was a pupil of her
father, Hermann, and her uncle, Simon Verelst. She became famous for the
excellent likenesses she made and for the artistic qualities of her small
portraits.
Like so many other artists, she was distinguished for accomplishments
outside her art. She was a fine musician and a marvel in her aptitude in
acquiring both ancient and modern languages. A very interesting anecdote
is related of her, as follows: When in London, one evening at the theatre
she sat near six German gentlemen, who expressed their admiration of her
in the most flattering terms of their language, and at the same time
observed her so closely as to be extremely rude. The artist, in their own
tongue, remarked that such extravagant praise was the opposite of a
compliment. One of them repeated his words in Latin, when she again
replied in the same language. The strangers then asked her if she would
give them her name. This she did and further told them that she lived
with her uncle, Simon Verelst. In the end she painted the portrait of
each of these men, and the story of their experience proved the reason
for the acquaintance of the artist being sought by people of culture and
position. Walpole speaks in praise of her portraits and also mentions her
unusual attainments in languages.
<b>VIGÉE, MARIE LOUISE ELIZABETH.</b> Member of the French Academy. Born in
Paris in 1755. That happy writer and learned critic, M. Charles Blanc,
begins his account of her thus: "All the fairies gathered about the
cradle of Elizabeth Vigée, as for the birth of a little princess in the
kingdom of art. One gave her beauty, another genius; the fairy Gracious
offered her a pencil and a palette. The fairy of marriage, who had not
been summoned, told her, it is true, that she should wed M. Le Brun, the
expert in pictures--but for her consolation the fairy of travellers
promised her that she should bear from court to court, from academy to
academy, from Paris to Petersburg, and from Rome to London, her gayety,
her talent, and her easel--before which all the sovereigns of Europe and
all those whom genius had crowned should place themselves as subjects for
her brush."
[Illustration: A FRENCH PRINCE
MARIE VIGÉE LE BRUN]
It is difficult to write of Madame Le Brun in outline because her life
was so interesting in detail. Though she had many sorrows, there is a
halo of romance and a brilliancy of atmosphere about her which marks her
as a prominent woman of her day, and her autobiography is charming--it
is so alive that one forgets that she is not present, telling her story!
The father of this gifted daughter was an artist of moderate ability and
made portraits in pastel, which Elizabeth, in her "Souvenirs," speaks of
as good and thinks some of them worthy of comparison with those of the
famous Latour. M. Vigée was an agreeable man with much vivacity of
manner. His friends were numerous and he was able to present his daughter
to people whose acquaintance was of value to her. She was but twelve
years old at the time of his death, and he had already so encouraged her
talents as to make her future comparatively easy for her.
Elizabeth passed five years of her childhood in a convent, where she
constantly busied herself in sketching everything that she saw. She tells
of her intense pleasure in the use of her pencil, and says that her
passion for painting was innate and never grew less, but increased in
charm as she grew older. She claimed that it was a source of perpetual
youth, and that she owed to it her acquaintance and friendship with the
most delightful men and women of Europe.
While still a young girl, Mlle. Vigée studied under Briard, Doyen, and
Greuze, but Joseph Vernet advised her to study the works of Italian and
Flemish masters, and, above all, to study Nature for herself--to follow
no school or system. To this advice Mme. Le Brun attributed her success.
When sixteen years old she presented two portraits to the French
Academy, and was thus early brought to public notice.
When twenty-one she married M. Le Brun, of whom she speaks discreetly in
her story of her life, but it was well known that he was of dissipated
habits and did not hesitate to spend all that his wife could earn. When
she left France, thirteen years after her marriage, she had not so much
as twenty francs, although she had earned a million!
She painted portraits of many eminent people, and was esteemed as a
friend by men and women of culture and high position. The friendship
between the artist and Marie Antoinette was a sincere and deep affection
between two women, neither of whom remembered that one of them was a
queen. It was a great advantage to the artist to be thus intimately
associated with her sovereign lady. Even in the great state picture of
the Queen surrounded by her children, at Versailles, one realizes the
tenderness of the painter as she lovingly reproduced her friend.
Marie Antoinette desired that Mme. Le Brun should be elected to the
Academy; Vernet approved it, and an unusual honor was shown her in being
made an Academician before the completion of her reception picture. At
that time it was a great advantage to be a member of the Academy, as no
other artists were permitted to exhibit their works in the Salon of the
Beaux-Arts.
Mme. Le Brun had one habit with which she allowed nothing to interfere,
which was taking a rest after her work for the day was done. She called
it her "calm," and to it she attributed a large share of her power of
endurance, although it lost her many pleasures. She could not go out to
dinner or entertain at that hour. The evening was her only time for
social pleasures. But when one reads her "Souvenirs," and realizes how
many notable people she met in her studio and in evening society, it
scarcely seems necessary to regret that she could not dine out!
Mme. Le Brun was at one period thought to be very extravagant, and one of
her entertainments caused endless comments. Her own account of it shows
how greatly the cost was exaggerated. She writes that on one occasion she
invited twelve or fifteen friends to listen to her brother's reading
during her "calm." The poem read was the "Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en
Grèce," in which a dinner was described, and even the receipts for making
various sauces were given. The artist was seized with the idea of
improvising a Greek supper.
She summoned her cook and instructed her in what had been read. Among her
guests were several unusually pretty ladies, who attired themselves in
Greek costumes as nearly as the time permitted. Mme. Le Brun retained the
white blouse she wore at her work, adding a veil and a crown of flowers.
Her studio was rich in antique objects, and a dealer whom she knew loaned
her cups, vases, and lamps. All was arranged with the effect an artist
knows how to produce.
As the guests arrived Mme. Le Brun added here and there an element of
Grecian costume until their number was sufficient for an effective
_tableau vivant_. Her daughter and a little friend were dressed as pages
and bore antique vases. A canopy hung over the table, the guests were
posed in picturesque attitudes, and those who arrived later were arrested
at the door of the supper-room with surprise and delight.
It was as if they had been transported to another clime. A Greek song was
chanted to the accompaniment of a lyre, and when the honey, grapes, and
other dishes were served _à la Grecque_, the enchantment was complete.
The poet recited odes from Anacreon and all passed off delightfully.
The fame of this novel supper was spread over Paris, and marvellous tales
were told of its magnificence and its cost. Mme. Le Brun writes: "Some
ladies asked me to repeat this pleasantry. I refused for various reasons,
and several of them were disturbed by my refusal. Soon a report that the
supper had cost me twenty thousand francs was spread abroad. The King
spoke of it as a joke to the Marquis of Cubières, who fortunately had
been one of the guests and was able to convince His Majesty of the folly
of such a story. Nevertheless, the modest sum of twenty thousand at
Versailles became forty thousand at Rome; at Vienna the Baroness de
Strogonoff told me that I had spent sixty thousand francs for my Greek
supper; you know that at Petersburg the price at length was fixed at
eighty thousand francs, and the truth is that it cost me about fifteen
francs!"
Early in 1789, when the warnings of the horrors about to take place began
to be heard, Mme. Le Brun went to Italy. In each city that she visited
she was received with great kindness and many honors were shown her. In
Florence she was invited to paint her own portrait, to be hung in that
part of the Uffizi set apart for the portraits of famous painters. Later
she sent the well-known portrait, near that of Angelica Kauffman. It is
interesting to read Goethe's comparison of the two portraits.
Speaking of Angelica's first, he writes: "It has a truer tone in the
coloring, the position is more pleasing, and the whole exhibits more
correct taste and a higher spirit in art. But the work of Le Brun shows
more careful execution, has more vigor in the drawing, and more delicate
touches. It, has, moreover, a clear though somewhat exaggerated coloring.
The Frenchwoman understands the art of adornment--the headdress, the
hair, the folds of lace on the bosom, all are arranged with care and, as
one might say, _con amore_. The piquant, handsome face, with its lively
expression, its parted lips disclosing a row of pearly teeth, presents
itself to the beholder's gaze as if coquettishly challenging his
admiration, while the hand holds the pencil as in the act of drawing.
"The picture of Angelica, with head gently inclined and a soft,
intellectual melancholy pervading the countenance, evinces higher genius,
even if, in point of artistic skill, the preference should be given to
the other."
Mme. Le Brun found Rome delightful and declared that if she could forget
France she should be the happiest of women. She writes of her fellow
artist: "I have been to see Angelica Kauffman, whom I greatly desired to
know. I found her very interesting, apart from her fine talent, on
account of her mind and her general culture.... She has talked much with
me during the two evenings I have passed at her house. Her manner is
gentle; she is prodigiously learned, but has no enthusiasm, which,
considering my ignorance, has not electrified me.... I have seen several
of her works; her sketches please me more than her pictures, because they
are of a Titianesque color."
Mme. Le Brun received more commissions for portraits than she could find
time to paint in the three years she lived in Italy. She tells us: "Not
only did I find great pleasure in painting surrounded by so many
masterpieces, but it was also necessary for me to make another fortune. I
had not a hundred francs of income. Happily I had only to choose among
the grandest people the portraits which it pleased me to paint." Her
account of her experiences in Italy is very entertaining, but at last the
restlessness of the exile overcame her and impelled her to seek other
scenes. She went to Vienna and there remained three other years, making
many friends and painting industriously until the spirit of unrest drove
her to seek new diversions, and she went to Russia.
She was there received with great cordiality and remained six
years--years crowded with kindness, labor, honor, attainment, joy, and
sorrow. Her daughter was the one all-absorbing passion--at once the joy
and the grief of her life. She was so charming and so gifted as to
satisfy the critical requirements of her mother's desires. In Petersburg,
where the daughter was greatly admired and caressed, the artist found
herself a thousand times more happy than she had ever been in her own
triumphs.
Mme. Le Brun was so constantly occupied and the need of earning was so
great with her, that she was forced to confide her daughter to the care
of others when she made her début in society. Thus it happened that the
young girl met M. Nigris, whom she afterward married. Personally he was
not agreeable to Mme. Le Brun and his position was not satisfactory to
her. We can imagine her chagrin in accepting a son-in-law who even asked
her for money with which to go to church on his wedding-day! The whole
affair was most distasteful, and the marriage occurred at the time of the
death of Mme. Le Brun's mother. She speaks of it as a "time devoted to
tears."
Her health suffered so much from this sadness that she tried the benefit
of change of scene, and went to Moscow. Returning to Petersburg, she
determined--in spite of the remonstrances of her friends, and the
inducements offered her to remain--to go to France. She several times
interrupted her journey in order to paint portraits of persons who had
heard of her fame, and desired to have her pictures.
She reached Paris in 1801 and writes thus of her return: "I shall not
attempt to express my emotions when I was again upon the soil of France,
from which I had been absent twelve years. Fright, grief, joy possessed
me, each in turn, for all these entered into the thousand varying
sentiments which swept over my soul. I wept for the friends whom I had
lost upon the scaffold, but I was about to see again those who remained.
This France to which I returned had been the scene of atrocious crimes;
but this France was my Native Land!"
But the new régime was odious to the artist, and she found herself unable
to be at home, even in Paris. After a year she went to London, and
remained in England three years. She detested the climate and was not in
love with the people, but she found a compensation in the society of many
French families who had fled from France as she had done.
In 1804 Mme. Nigris was in Paris and her mother returned to see her. The
young woman was very beautiful and attractive, very fond of society,
entirely indifferent to her husband, and not always wise in the choice of
her companions. Mme. Le Brun, always hard at work and always having great
anxieties, at length found herself so broken in health, and so nervously
fatigued that she longed to be alone with Nature, and in 1808 she went to
Switzerland. Her letters written to the Countess Potocka at this time are
added to her "Souvenirs," and reveal the very best of her nature. Feeling
the need of continued repose, she bought a house at Louveciennes, where
she spent much time. In 1818 M. Le Brun died, and six years later the
deaths of her daughter and her brother left her with no near relative in
the world.