Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D Part 26

JERICHAU-BAUMANN, ELIZABETH. 1819-1881. Honorable mention, Paris Salon, 1861. Member of the Academy of Copenhagen. Born in Warsaw. Pupil of Karl Sohne and Stilke, in Dusseldorf. In Rome she married the Danish sculptor Jerichau and afterward lived in Copenhagen. She travelled in England, France, Russia, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt.

Her picture of a "Polish Woman and Children Leaving Their Home, which had been Destroyed," is in the Raczynski Collection, Berlin; "Polish Peasants Returning to the Ruins of a Burnt House," in the Lansdowne Collection, London; "A Wounded Soldier Nursed by His Betrothed," in the Gallery at Copenhagen, where is also her portrait of her husband; "An Icelandic Maiden," in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg. Her picture, "Reading the Bible,"

was painted for Napoleon III. at his request. Mme. Jerichau painted a portrait of the present Queen of England, in her wedding dress. A large number of her works are in private houses in Copenhagen.

One of her most important pictures was a life-size representation of "Christian Martyrs in the Catacombs." This picture was much talked of in Rome, where it was painted, and the Pope desired to see it. Madame Jerichau took the picture to the Vatican. On seeing it the Pope expressed surprise that one who was not of his Church could paint this picture.

Mme. Jerichau, hearing this, replied: "Your Holiness, I am a Christian."

Hans Christian Andersen was an intimate friend in the Jerichau family. He attended the wedding in Rome, and wrote the biographies of Professor and Mme. Jerichau.

Theophile Gautier once said that but three women in Europe merited the name of artists--Rosa Bonheur, Henrietta Brown, and Elizabeth Jerichau; and Cornelius called her "the one woman in the Dusseldorf School,"

because of her virile manner of painting.

Among her important portraits are those of Frederick VII. of Denmark, the brothers Grimm, and "Hans Christian Andersen Reading His Fairy Tales to a Child."

Mme. Jerichau was also an author. In 1874 she published her "Memories of Youth," and later, with her son, the ill.u.s.trated "Pictures of Travel."

JOPLING-ROWE, LOUISE. Member of Royal Society of British Artists, Society of Portrait Painters, Pastel Society, Society of Women Artists.

Born at Manchester, 1843. Pupil of Chaplin in Paris; also studied with Alfred Stevens.

Since 1871 Mrs. Jopling has been a constant exhibitor at the Royal Academy and other London exhibitions, and frequently also at the Paris Salon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MISS ELLEN TERRY AS "PORTIA"

LOUISE JOPLING ROWE]

Her pictures are princ.i.p.ally portraits and genre subjects. Her first decided success was gained in 1874, when she exhibited at the Academy the "j.a.panese Tea Party," and from that time she was recognized as an accomplished artist and received as many commissions as she could execute. The Baroness de Rothschild had been convinced of Mrs. Jopling's talent before she became an artist, and had given her great encouragement in the beginning of her career. The portrait of Lord Rothschild, painted for Lord Beaconsfield, is thought to be her best work of this kind, but its owner would not allow it to be exhibited. Her portrait of Ellen Terry, which hangs in the Lyceum Theatre, was at the Academy in 1883. It is in the costume of Portia. Mrs. Jopling's pastels are of an unusual quality, delicate, strong, and brilliant. Her portraits are numerous, and from time to time she has also executed figure subjects.

Of late years Mrs. Jopling has been much occupied with a School of Painting. The large number of pupils who wished to study with her made a school the best means of teaching them, and has been successful. From the beginning they draw from life, and at the same time they also study from the antique.

Many of her pupils receive good prices for their works, and also earn large sums for their portraits in black and white.

Mrs. Jopling writes: "What I know I chiefly learned alone. Hard work and the genius that comes from infinite pains, the eye to see nature, the heart to feel nature, and the courage to follow nature--these are the best qualifications for the artist who would succeed."

In the _Art Journal,_ July, 1874, I read: "'The Five-o'Clock Tea' is the largest and most important design we have seen from Mrs. Jopling's hand, and in the disposition of the various figures and the management of color it certainly exhibits very remarkable technical gifts. Especially do we notice in this lady's work a correct understanding of the laws of tone, very rare to find in the works of English painters, giving the artist power to bring different tints, even if they are not harmonious, into right relations with one another."

The above-named picture was sold to the Messrs. Agnew, and was followed by "The Modern Cinderella," which was seen at the Paris Exposition in 1878; at the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 she exhibited "Five Sisters of York."

Mrs. Jopling is also known as the founder and president of the Society of the Immortals. She has written several short tales, some poems, and a book called "Hints to Amateurs."

At the Royal Academy, 1903, she exhibited "Hark! Hark! the Lark at Heaven's Gate Sings," which is a picture of a poor girl beside a table, on which she has thrown her work, and leaning back in her chair, with hands clasped behind her head, is lost in thought.

JORIS, SIGNORINA AGNESE--pseudonym, Altissimi. Was accorded the t.i.tle of professor at the Inst.i.tute of the Fine Arts, Rome, 1881. She was successful in a compet.i.tion for a position in the Scuole Tecniche, Rome, 1888. Honorable mention, Florence, 1890; same at Palermo, 1891 and 1892; silver medal of first cla.s.s and diploma of silver medal, Rome, 1899 and 1900. Member of the Societa Cooperativa, Rome. Born in the same city, and pupil of the Inst.i.tute of Fine Arts and of her brother, Cavaliere Professore Pio Joris.

This artist writes that a list of her works would be too long and require too much time to write it. They are in oils, pastel, and water-colors, with various applications of these to tapestries, etc. She also gives lessons in these different methods of painting. In a private collection in New York is her "Spanish Scene in the Eighteenth Century."

She painted a "portrait of the late King Humbert, arranged in the form of a triptych surrounded by a wreath of flowers, painted from some which had lain on the King's bier." She sent this picture to Queen Margharita, "who not only graciously accepted it, but sent the artist a beautiful letter and a magnificent jewel on which was the Royal Cipher."

KAERLING, HENRIETTE. Born about 1832. Daughter of the artist, J. T.

Kaerling, who was her princ.i.p.al teacher. She practised her art as a painter of portraits, genre subjects, and still-life in Budapest during some years before her marriage to the pianist Pacher, with whom she went to Vienna. She there copied some of the works of the great painters in the Gallery, besides doing original work of acknowledged excellence. In addition to her excellent portraits, she painted in 1851 "The Grandmother"; in 1852, "A Garland with Religious Emblems"; in 1855, "A Crucifix Wound with Flowers."

KALCKREUTH, COUNTESS MARIA. Medal at Chicago Exposition, 1893.

Member of the Society of Women Artists in Berlin. Born at Dusseldorf.

1857-1897. Much of her artistic life was pa.s.sed in Munich. Her picture at Chicago was later exhibited at Berlin and was purchased for the Protestant Chapel at Dachau. It represented "Christ Raising a Repentant Sinner"--a strong work, broadly painted. Among her important pictures are "In the Suns.h.i.+ne," "Fainthearted," "Discontented," and several portraits, all of which show the various aspects of her artistic talent.

KAUFFMAN, ANGELICA. An original member of the London Academy. She was essentially an Italian artist, since from the age of eleven she lived in Italy and there studied her art. Such different estimates have been made of her works that one may quote a good authority in either praise or blame of her artistic genius and attainment.

Kugler, a learned, unimpa.s.sioned critic, says: "An easy talent for composition, though of no depth; a feeling for pretty forms, though they were often monotonous and empty, and for graceful movement; a coloring blooming and often warm, though occasionally crude; a superficial but agreeable execution, and especially a vapid sentimentality in harmony with the fas.h.i.+on of the time--all these causes sufficiently account for her popularity."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Alinari, Photo.

In the Uffizi, Florence

PORTRAIT OF ANGELICA KAUFFMAN

PAINTED BY HERSELF]

Raphael Mengs, himself an artist, thus esteems her: "As an artist she is the pride of the female s.e.x in all times and all nations. Nothing is wanting--composition, coloring, fancy--all are here."

Miss Kate Thompson writes: "Her works showed no originality nor any great power of execution, and, while sometimes graceful, were generally weak and insipid."

For myself I do not find her worthy of superlative praise or condemnation; one cannot deny her grace in design, which was also creditably correct; her poetical subjects were pleasing in arrangement; her historical subjects lacked strength and variety in expression; her color was as harmonious and mellow as that of the best Italian colorists, always excepting a small number of the greatest masters, and in all her pictures there is a something--it must have been the individuality of the artist--that leads one to entertain a certain fondness for her, even while her shortcomings are fully recognized.

The story of Angelica Kauffman's life is of unusual interest. She was born at Coire, in the Grisons. 1742-1807. Her father, an artist, had gone from Schwarzenburg to Coire to execute some frescoes in a church, and had married there. When Angelica was a year old the family settled in Morbegno, in Lombardy. Ten years later, when the child had already shown her predilection for painting and music, a new home was made for her in Como, where there were better advantages for her instruction.

Her progress in music was phenomenal, and for a time she loved her two arts--one as well as the other--and could make no choice between them. In one of her pictures she represented herself as a child, standing between allegorical figures of Music and Painting.

The exquisite scenery about Como, the stately palaces, charming villas, the lake with its fairy-like pleasure boats, and the romantic life which there surrounded this girl of so impressionable a nature, rapidly developed the poetic element born with her, which later found expression through her varied talents. During her long life the recollections of the two years she pa.s.sed at Como were among the most precious memories a.s.sociated with her wandering girlhood.

From Como she was taken to Milan, where she had still better advantages for study, and a world of art was opened to her which far exceeded her most ardent imaginings. Leonardo had lived and taught in Milan, and his influence with that of other Lombard masters stirred Angelica to her very soul.

Her pictures soon attracted the attention of Robert d'Este, who became her patron and placed her in the care of the d.u.c.h.ess of Carrara. This early a.s.sociation with a circle of cultured and elegant men and women was doubtless the origin of the self-possession and modest dignity which characterized Angelica Kauffman through life and enabled her becomingly to accept the honors that were showered upon her.

Her happy life at Milan ended all too soon. Her mother died, and her father decided to return to his native Schwarzenburg to execute some extensive decorative works in that vicinity. In the interior decoration of a church Angelica painted in fresco the figures of the twelve apostles after engravings from the works of Piazetta.

The coa.r.s.e, homely life of Schwarzenburg was in extreme contrast to that of Milan and was most uncongenial to a sensitive nature; but Angelica was saved from melancholy by the companions.h.i.+p she felt in the grand pine forests, which soothed her discontent, while her work left her little time to pine for the happiness she had left or even to mourn the terrible loss of her mother.