painter in England, whose daughter would assist him when he was hurried.
But the lady thought working with men was objectionable. I heard of a
young lady in New York, who assisted her father, by filling up the
outlines, as he drew them on side walls. Mrs. Ellet states that Angelica
Kauffman assisted her father in the interior decoration of a church, in
Schwarzenberg. She painted, in fresco, the figures of the Twelve
Apostles. Her success in an undertaking so difficult excited
considerable attention. Mrs. N., wife of a fresco painter, thought the
work unfit for women, because they would be compelled to work with men,
and stand on platforms to work on ceilings; consequently are liable to
exposure of person. They might paint the side walls, and let men paint
the ceilings.
=72. Historical.= But few ladies have devoted themselves to historical
painting. The most lived during the latter part of the last century, and
the commencement of the present. Catarina Vieira painted several church
pictures, after the designs of her brother.
=73. Landscape.= In the past century Holland gave to the world the
largest number of female landscape painters. America and England bear
away the palm for the present century. American scenery opens as wide a
scope for the talent of the landscape painter as any on the globe.
Mrs. ----, one of the first landscape painters of our country, thinks
landscape requires more care and talent than portrait painting, but the
latter pays best. She says there are some ladies in Boston, who are very
good landscape painters. She thinks it would be very difficult for a
young artist to become established in New York, without influential
connections, and the means to keep her until she does become
established; but would be more likely to succeed in cities in the South
and West. She thinks there are good openings in Baltimore, for artists
of every kind. She says art is much more encouraged in the United States
during the last few years, and a good artist need not fear starving. The
artists of New York have three receptions during the year. The object is
to make known their paintings, with a view to selling. At the last
annual sale of pictures for the New York Artists' Fund, $2,000 were
received. Some artists copy a landscape exactly as they see it; some
select the most beautiful parts of different landscapes, and combine
them; and a few draw entirely from imagination. Good painters of scenes
for theatres, I have been told, often receive from $25 to $40 per week.
=74. Marine.= Some very good marine views have been executed in this
country, but none by ladies.
=75. Miniature Painters.= "We may run back as far as the twelfth
century, and find a few miniature painters among the fair sex.
Margaretta von Eyck devoted most of her time to painting miniatures, in
the fifteenth century. In the seventeenth century, an Italian lady of
Palermo distinguished herself as a painter in oils. Mrs. Wright, an
English miniature painter, died in 1802; and Maria Conway was a noted
miniature painter, living in London, who died in 1821. In the
seventeenth century, Maria Rieger was employed to paint miniatures in
the aristocratic circles of Germany. In the same century, a Swiss lady,
Anna Wossar, began at the early age of thirteen to win a name in the
same branch of painting. In the same century, almost every country in
Europe gave birth to one." Mad. Goldbeck, of English birth; Mrs. Hill,
of Boston; Miss C. Denning, of Plattsburg; Miss Anne Hall and Miss
O'Hara, in New York, are the principal miniature painters in the United
States. It was reported that Miss H. occasionally received as high as
$500 for a miniature. Mrs. Hill received from $75 to $100 for a
miniature. The popularity of photographs has caused many portrait and
miniature painters to devote themselves to that branch of art. Some
artists succeed in giving an ideal, _spirituel_ beauty, truly
astonishing. I think it is more observable in miniatures on ivory than
any other style. Mr. W. writes: "In the department of miniature painting
women find profitable employment and are ofttimes very expert at the
work. I know a lady in Washington who paints very beautiful miniatures,
for which she receives from $10 to $15. This is very nearly the same
rate paid to men. Woman's delicate sense of touch and facility of
expression make it a branch for which she is especially fitted."
=76. Panoramas=, we suppose, have pretty well paid their way,
particularly the first that were exhibited; but we know not that any
lady has ever engaged in this branch of painting. Mr. D., a scenic and
panoramic artist, says the "decorative workshops" of Paris are 250 feet
long, and 50 feet wide. The cloth for panoramas is laid on the floor,
and the paint then applied, as it would run if hung up. There are
galleries around the walls, some distance above, from which the artist
may judge of the effect of his painting. Many dioramas are used, and
might be colored by ladies. Panoramas have not been so common since
Banvard painted his. Painting them does not always pay for the trouble
and expense. It requires a certain order of talent for painting
panoramas, and probably as high an order as any other.
=77. Portrait.= "Lala, though not a native of Rome, exercised her
profession in that city during the youth of Marcus Varo, painting
portraits of women. Her pictures were better paid for than those of any
other painter of her time. Portrait and character drawing have ever
exercised the talents of the first-class artists." Mary Beale was a
celebrated portrait painter, who lived in the reign of Charles II.; and
Anna Killigrew painted the portraits of James II. and his queen. An
artist told me that it requires the most intense mental application to
bring out a variety in the expression of the countenances of some
sitters, and difficult to seize the most happy expression. An ambrotype
copy should be kept for the colorist to look at occasionally, while
progressing with his work. He thinks seven hours a day enough for an
artist, when his mind is exercised with his work. After so long an
application, he might turn his attention advantageously to some style of
painting more mechanical in its nature, that will be an occupation to
his body and a relief to his mind. A portrait painter writes me in
answer to some questions: "The artist's labor cannot well be intrusted
to another. In France there are female portrait painters, who are said
to execute such works with more delicacy and profit than men. The
employment is not unhealthy, unless the laborer confines herself too
long in a poorly ventilated room. Women are paid by the piece, when
employed by artists. I would say, in general terms, why women are not
better paid is owing, doubtless, to a very foolish idea that, in all
respects, they are not so reliable. Perhaps a remnant of a more
barbarous period has something to do with it. In inferior conditions of
society women are always looked upon as inferior creatures. Women have
done great things in art. See the career of Rosa Bonheur, Angelica
Kauffman, Miss Sharp, of London, and, in our own country, Mrs. L. M.
Spencer and Miss Hosmer." Some people are gifted with a love for, and
success in, one style, and some in another. Our nation, composed as it
is of representatives from all lands, will give fair play to the best
powers of the portrait painter. Miss G. thinks a lady of talent, by
close application, with an extensive respectable connection, can
establish herself in New York as an artist, and earn a livelihood by the
products of her pencil. She charges as much for a crayon portrait as for
one in oil. She succeeds best in crayons. $60 is her price for a large
portrait; $10 or $15 more, with hands. "Mademoiselle Rosée, born in
Leyden, in 1632, deserves a place among eminent artists for the
singularity of her talents. Instead of using colors, with oil or gum,
she used silk for the delicate shading. It can hardly be understood how
she managed to apply the fibres, and to imitate the flesh tints,
blending and mellowing them so admirably. She thus painted portraits, as
well as landscapes and architecture."
=78. Water Colors.= Much improvement has taken place in this style of
painting during the last few years. Fanny Corbeaux is mentioned as a
superior English painter in water colors, of the present century.
=79. Painters of Dial Plates.= This is rather an artistic employment,
but poorly paid. All the clock faces used in the East are said to be
painted by women. Men would not do it for the prices that are paid. In
Boston is a large factory where a number of girls are employed in
painting hard dial plates--that is, enamelled. I saw a Swiss lady in New
York who paints silver-faced dial plates. She and a gentleman in Hoboken
(she told me) are the only persons in this country who paint that style.
The drying of hard dial plates she thought to be bad on the health,
because of the great heat to which a person is exposed in placing the
enamel in the furnace, and attending to it while there. Mixing the
enamel could be done by women. When learning to paint dial plates in
Switzerland, she paid $3 a week for instruction and board, but for a
sleeping room separately.
=80. Picture Restorers.= E. says he has been thirty years engaged in
restoring paintings and engravings. He thinks it is more of a natural
gift than anything else. He has made money by it. His sons, who have
been ten years employed as draughtsmen, cannot succeed, with all the
instruction he has given them. To succeed requires the talents and
experience of an artist. He never adds paint when any is left, but
merely restores it. If it is gone, he supplies it. B. says, restoring
paintings is a work of all time. The prospect of a lady succeeding is
poor. She cannot use the heavy iron (twenty-five pounds) necessary for
ironing the lining on the picture. (But that part is merely mechanical
work, and can be done by a man.) The greatest aim with most restorers is
to imitate the old masters. Mrs. C., whose husband is a picture liner,
says there is a great wear and tear of mind in that business. A restorer
may injure a picture, and have it thrown upon his hands, and have to pay
ten times its value. Restoring is the most difficult, lining the most
laborious. She never heard of any one being taught. I should think a
restorer would find it desirable, if not essential, to visit the
galleries of Europe, and study the works of the old masters. The
business requires considerable artistic taste and knowledge, but, in our
large cities, may after a while present a field for qualified women.
=81. Piano Tuners.= I think a piano tuner might form a class of ladies,
and give instruction in the art. $1 is the usual price for tuning a
piano in the city. One should have an acute sense of hearing, to
succeed; and he should commence early to cultivate that sense. It is
very necessary to know how to make a nice discrimination of sounds.
Practice in that is best gained in a piano factory. Some could learn the
principles in half a day. More depends on practice, and a native talent
for it, than anything else. At Mr. W.'s is a very superior tuner, and he
has been at it but a few months. It requires strength of wrist, and a
rather long arm. The change of posture and strain on the back is
considerable. There is not one good tuner in fifty. Mr. W. thinks a lady
might be a tuner. He says it is not necessary that a person should know
how to play on an instrument, but it is better. A tuner in his factory
receives $3 a day. Regulating is done by the touch, tuning by the ear.
If a lady could obtain the tuning of the pianos of her friends, they
might speak to others, and in that way she might succeed in obtaining
sufficient custom to make a very comfortable support. It might also
bring out any musical talent the individual possesses. While piano
tuners are learning, if they practise long at a time, they often
experience a confusion of sounds, and are not able to distinguish
correctly. I was told by another manufacturer, it is not at all
necessary to be a player to make a good tuner, as the two are entirely
distinct. There is a great difference in the abilities of tuners. There
is much difference naturally in the sense of hearing in different
individuals: there is much from training, there is much from the aptness
of a pupil, and in the application. When they take a boy as an
apprentice, they keep him at first to sweep the room, and go errands,
and give him instruction, probably an hour at a time, in tuning. Longer
time would confuse a learner. They have had a tuner for three years,
that they can now send to tune pianos for concerts; but, a year ago,
they could not. Two piano tuners (women) are mentioned in the census of
Great Britain. Mr. W. had two or three ladies to learn piano tuning in
his factory. They were music teachers, living in villages and the
country, who could not engage a tuner oftener than once in two or three
months, when the tuner would come around. He thinks ladies could not
make very good tuners, because it requires great strength in the hand or
wrist, and complete control of the key; for if the key is turned ever so
slightly more than it should be, the wire will break. A manufacturer of
musical instruments writes: "I think women could be placed in a
situation profitable to themselves and the community by learning to tune
pianos and melodeons, which I believe they have the skill and capacity
to do. They would also find it profitable, in some places, to instruct
juvenile classes of both sexes in sacred music."
=82. Plaster Statuary.= The few women in this country who work in
plaster of Paris, are, as far as we know, natives of other countries.
There is an old Italian woman in Baltimore who makes and sells works in
plaster. Casts are sometimes taken by women, but rarely. Casts of living
persons are taken by having the individual breathe through iron tubes
placed in the nostrils. Casts are also taken from reliefs, statues, and
models. They require less care than the first mentioned. Fruit is
imitated in this material, and colored exactly like the original. I saw
a case that had been prepared by a lady for the rooms of the American
Institute, New York. The librarian thought several collections might be
disposed of to agricultural societies and farmers. It would pay well,
and take but little time to learn. It would require a nice discernment
of colors and shades, and neat, careful workmanship. In Brooklyn, I was
told by a boy, that did not look to be more than 14 or 15 years of age,
that he had been working in plaster of Paris for three years. His was
the architectural branch. The first year he received $1.50 per week;
next year, $2; and the next, $3. He thinks a woman could do any of the
work. The moulds for some parts are made of wax and rosin; some of
sulphur, and some of plaster of Paris. The moulds are tied together, and
the liquid plaster poured in. It hardens in half an hour. Mr. W., a
plaster of Paris worker, says the whole of the work could be done by
women. Modelling requires practice in drawing, and a knowledge of
geometrical figures. Inventive talent finds a ready field for exercise.
A good moulder is paid $2.50 a day. The study of architectural ornaments
and books much facilitates the advancement of the art. Modelling and
casting are distinct branches. Most employers pay boys thirty-seven
cents a day for casting; but to learn modelling, it is customary for the
learner to pay a premium. Another maker of house ornaments said
modelling could be learned in six months, and when a person has learned,
he can earn from $3 to $5 a day of ten hours. One must know how to draw
in order to model. Another proprietor told me he had thought of
employing girls to break off the edges of architectural ornaments. They
now have boys, and pay from $3 to $9 per week. Modellers can earn $2,
$2.50, and $3 per day. He paid $2.50 a day, for a year, to one man. At a
large store for the sale of plaster of Paris articles in New York, the
proprietor, a gentlemanly Italian, said he would be willing to give
instruction to a class of ladies in modelling, moulding, casting, and
polishing. He would charge $2 for two hours' instruction, and thinks,
after a lesson every day for three months, and some practice in the
intervals, his pupils would have no difficulty in prosecuting the work
alone. It soils the clothes very much. His daughter learned it, but
prefers embroidery. One of the Pisani brothers told me that in Italy and
Paris women work at the business. Much ornamental work is executed in
alabaster, spar, composition, and plaster of Paris. None of them are
unfit for women. A more desirable occupation, with the exception of its
want of cleanliness, a woman could not engage in, than plaster of Paris
modelling. An Italian plaster image maker in Boston writes me: "We
employ about 60 women. Women are employed at this business in Florence,
Rome, and Milan. I get about $10 per day, and pay women $3 per day,
working ten hours. I pay both by the piece and by the day. As a general
thing, we pay men better than women. It requires some genius and a
lifetime to learn the business. The prospects for employment are good in
Boston, and there is a pretty lively demand for hands. All the women I
employ are Italians. Women are decidedly superior workers. The business
can be carried on in any part of the United States. Women might be
employed in taking casts from the dead, if they have sufficient nerve. I
have a peculiar fancy for this branch of the work, and do not consider
it unhealthy."
=83. Painters of Plates for Books.= Hundreds of thousands of plates are
annually colored in London, and some in this country. The neatness and
patience of women fit them admirably for this work. It is an agreeable,
but at present not a very constant or profitable employment. The
coloring of lithographs in printing has done away with much hand
coloring. The painting of stereoscopic plates has given employment to
some ladies, and does not require much skill or taste. The gentleman who
prepared stereoscopic plates for the Messrs. A., employed several
ladies, to whom he paid on an average from $9 to $10 a week, working by
the piece. Botanical plates are mostly colored by hand. The gentleman
who prepares the fashion plates of the _Ladies' American Magazine_
employs women, paying from $4 to $7 a week, according to application and
rapidity of execution. They work from eight till dark, in winter, and by
the week, not the piece. It requires but a few weeks to learn. He has
stereoscopic views also painted by women. They receive rather better
prices, as it requires some artistic taste and more care. The universal
complaint among employers is, that their best workwomen will get married
and leave them. If women were better paid, employers would not be so
likely to lose them. A few years ago, we saw a newspaper statement to
this effect: When maps were colored by hand in New York, girls were paid
from three cents to ten cents a sheet, and they earned from $3 to $5 a
week. A few years back, it was estimated that there were two hundred
female paint colorers at the top of the profession, who made excellent
wages by coloring costly engravings. The colorers of plates in _Leslie's
Magazine_ pay by the hundred or thousand. The first year, a learner is
paid but little. If she succeeds right well in that time, she is then
paid according to the quality and quantity of her work, earning from $3
to $5 per week. They must work in the shop, so the superintendent can
see if it is properly done, or reject and have altered such plates as
are not. All seasons are alike. A manufacturer of children's toy books
told me he employed girls for coloring, paying by the piece. They earned
each from $3 to $3.50 a week. They used stencil plates. He generally
kept them employed all the year round, but the occupation is full. A
German print colorer told me he employed thirty girls till the panic,
paying by the piece from $3 to $3.50 a week. Stencil plates of varnished
paper were used. He paid his workers from the first, and they could
either sit or stand while at work. Another paint colorer told me his
girls earned from $4 to $4.50 a week, for coloring the finest prints,
working only in daylight. A manufacturer of valentines and children's
toy books told me his girls painted valentines in winter, and toy books
in summer. He pays two of his girls by the week $7 each, and none of the
rest less than $4 a week. They work from nine to ten hours a day. The
use of stencils by Germans has reduced the price of such work. He could
get girls to do book coloring for $2 a week, but prefers to retain his
old hands constantly. Most colorers of prints work at home. A getter up
of gentlemen's fashion plates told me he pays ten cents for coloring a
large sheet containing several figures, and the worker finding her own
materials. No one could earn the salt of her bread at such rates.
Another print colorer told me it requires from two to six weeks to
learn, according to the ability of the learner. Sometimes he has
Government work that must be done hurriedly. They have least work from
New Year to March. Some print colorers pay by the week; $5 is a good
price. I saw an engraving on the wall representing an English barnyard,
for which the proprietor was paid $3 for coloring, while he pays the
lady who does it, $2.25. Some ladies, he says, can earn from $10 to $12
a week.