Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D Part 29

At length one of these youths begged the modeller to receive him as an apprentice, and, his request being granted, he became the daily companion of both Kora and her father. As the apprentice was skilled in letters, it soon came about that he was the teacher and ere long the lover of the charming maiden, who was duly betrothed to him.

The time for the apprentice to leave his master came all too soon. As he sat with Kora the evening before his departure, she was seized by an ardent wish for a portrait of her lover, and, with a coal from the brazier, she traced upon the wall the outline of the face so dear to her.

This likeness her father instantly recognized, and, hastening to bring his clay, he filled in the sketch and thus produced the first portrait in bas-relief! It is a charming thought that from the inspiration of a pure affection so beautiful an art originated, and doubtless Kora's influence contributed much to the artistic fame which her husband later achieved in Corinth.

In the latter city the portrait was preserved two hundred years, and Dibutades became so famous for the excellence of his work that at his death several cities claimed the honor of having been his birthplace.

KRAFFT, ANNA BARBARA. Member of the Vienna Academy. She was born at Igto in 1764, and died at Bamberg in 1825. She received instruction from her father, J. N. Steiner, of which she later made good use. Having married an apothecary, she went for a time to Salsburg, and again, after nine years in Prague, spent eighteen years in Salsburg, retiring finally to Bamberg. In the Gallery at Bamberg may be seen her portrait of the founder, J. Hemmerlein; in the Nost.i.tz Gallery, Prague, a portrait of the Archduke Charles; in Strahow Abbey, Prague, a "Madonna"; and in the church at Owencez, near Prague, an altar-piece.

KUNTZE, MARTHA. Born in Heinrichsdorf, Prussia, 1849. Pupil of Steff.e.c.k and Gussow in Berlin. In 1881 she went to Paris and studied under Carolus Duran and Henner, and later travelled in Italy, pursuing her art in Florence, Rome, and Southern Italy. She has an excellent reputation as a portrait painter, and occasionally paints subjects of still-life.

KuSSNER, AMALIA. See Coudert, Amalia Kussner.

LABILLE, ADELAIDE VERTUS. Was born in Paris in 1749. She early developed a taste for art and a desire to study it. J. E. Vincent was her master in miniature painting, while Latour instructed her in the use of pastels. She was successful as a portrait painter and as a teacher, having some members of the royal family as pupils, who so esteemed her that they became her friends. She is known as Madame Vincent, having married the son of her first master in painting.

Her portrait of the sculptor Gois gained a prize at the Academy, and in 1781 she was made a member of that inst.i.tution. We know the subjects of some large, ambitious works by Madame Vincent, on which she relied for her future fame, but unhappily they were destroyed in the time of the French Revolution, and she never again had the courage to attempt to replace them. One of these represented the "Reception of a Member to the Order of St. Lazare," the Grand Master being the brother of the King, who had appointed Madame Vincent Painter to the Court. Another of these works was a portrait of the artist before her easel, surrounded by her pupils, among whom was the d.u.c.h.esse d'Angouleme and other n.o.ble ladies.

As Madame Vincent and her husband were staunch royalists, they suffered serious losses during the Revolution; the loss of her pictures was irreparable. She was so disheartened by the destruction of the result of the labors of years that she never again took up her brush with her old-time ambition and devotion.

She died in 1803, at the age of fifty-four, having received many honors as an artist, while she was beloved by her friends and esteemed by all as a woman of n.o.ble character.

LAING, MRS. J. G. Princ.i.p.al studies made in Glasgow under Mr. F. H.

Newbery; also in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens and Aman-Jean.

This artist is especially occupied with portraits of children and their mothers. She has, however, exhibited works of another sort. Her "Sweet Repose" and "Masquerading" were sold from the exhibitions in London and Glasgow, where they were shown. "Bruges Lace-Makers" was exhibited in Munich in 1903.

The Ladies' Club of Glasgow is enterprising and its exhibitions are interesting, but Mrs. Laing is not a member of any club, and sends her pictures by invitation to exhibitions on the Continent as well as in Great Britain, and sometimes has a private exhibition in Glasgow.

Her study at Aman-Jean's and Colarossi's gave a certain daintiness and grace to her work, which is more Parisian than British in style. There is great freedom in her brush and a delicacy well suited to the painting of children's portraits; her children and their mothers really smile, not grin, and are altogether attractive. I cannot say whether the portraits I have seen are good likenesses, but they have an air of individuality which favors that idea.

LAMB, ELLA CONDIE--Mrs. Charles R. Lamb. Dodge prize, National Academy, New York; medal at Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893; gold medal, Atlanta Exposition; medal at Pan-American Exposition, 1901. Member of Art Students' League, Woman's Art Club, National Art Club. Born in New York City. Pupil of National Academy of Design and of Art Students'

League, New York, under C. Y. Turner, William M. Chase, and Walter s.h.i.+rlaw; in Paris, pupil of R. Collin and R. Courtois; in England, of Hubert Herkomer, R.A.

Among Mrs. Lamb's works are "The Advent Angel"; "The Christ Child," a life-size painting, copied in mosaic for the Conrad memorial, St. Mary's Church, Wayne, Pennsylvania; "The Arts" and "The Sciences," executed in a.s.sociation with Charles R. Lamb, for the Sage Memorial Apse designed by him for Cornell University.

Of recent years Mrs. Lamb is much occupied in collaborating with her husband in decorative designs for public edifices. One of the works thus executed is a memorial window to Mrs. Stella Goodrich Russell in Wells College at Aurora. It represents three female figures against a landscape background. Literature is seated in the centre, while Science and Art stand in the side panels. It has the effect of a triptych.

LAMB, ROSE. Two bronze medals in Boston exhibitions, 1878 and 1879.

Member of the Copley Society. Born in Boston, where her studies have been made, chiefly under William M. Hunt.

Miss Lamb has painted portraits princ.i.p.ally, a large number of which are in Boston in the homes of the families to which they belong. Among them are Mrs. Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., and her children; Mr. J. Ingersoll Bowditch, Mr. Horace Lamb, the three sons of the late Governor Roger Wolcott, the daughters of Mrs. Shepherd Brooks, the children of Mrs.

Walter C. Baylies, etc.

In 1887 Miss Lamb painted an admirable portrait of Mohini Mohun Chatterji, a Brahmin, who spent some months in Boston.

LANCIANI, MARCELLA. Born in Rome, where her studies were made under Professor Giuseppe Ferrari in figure drawing, and under Signor Onorato Carlandi--the great water-color artist of the Roman Campagna--in landscape and coloring.

At the annual spring exhibition in the Palazzo delle Belle Arti, Rome, 1903, this artist exhibited four works: a life-size "Study of the Head of an old Roman Peasant"; a "Sketch near the Mouth of the Tiber at Finniscino"; "An Old Stairway in the Villa d'Este, at Tivoli"; "A View from the Villa Colonna, Rome."

Two of her sketches, one of the "Tiber" and one of the "Villa Medici,"

are in the collection of Mrs. Pierpont Morgan; two similar sketches are in the collection of Mrs. James Leavitt, New York; a copy of a "Madonna"

in an old Umbrian church is in a private gallery in Rome; a "Winter Scene in the Villa Borghese" and two other sketches are owned in Edinburgh; the "Lake in the Villa Borghese" is in the collection of Mr. Richard Corbin, Paris; and several other pictures are in private collections in New York.

LANDER, LOUISA. Born in Salem, 1826. Manifested a taste for sculpture when quite young, and modelled likenesses of the members of her family. In 1855 she became the pupil of Thomas Crawford in Rome. Among her earlier works are figures in marble of "To-day" and "Galatea," the first being emblematic of America.

She executed many portrait busts, one of them being of Nathaniel Hawthorne. "The Captive Pioneer" is a large group. Among her ideal works are a statue of Virginia Dare--the first child born in America of English parents; "Undine," "Evangeline," "Virginia," etc.

LAUKOTA, HERMINIE. Born in Prague, 1853. After having studied in Prague, Amsterdam, and Munich, she was a pupil of Doris Raab in etching.

She paints portraits, genre and still-life subjects with artistic taste and delicacy. Her studio is in Prague. Among her best pictures are "Battle for Truth," "Sentinels of Peace," "A Contented Old Woman"; and among her etchings may be named "The Veiled Picture of Sas,"

"Prometheus," "The Microscopist," "Before the Bar of Reason," etc. The latter was reproduced in _Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst_ in 1893, and was said to show a powerful fancy.

In 1875 and 1876 she exhibited her etchings in Vienna. The "Going to Baptism" in the second exhibition was much admired and aroused unusual interest.

LA VILLETTE, MME. ELODIE. Third-cla.s.s medal, Paris Salon, 1875; bronze medal, Paris Exposition, 1889; second-cla.s.s medal, Melbourne Exposition; numerous diplomas and medals from provincial exhibitions in France; also from Vienna, Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, London, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Munich, and Chicago. Officer of the Academy. Born at Strasbourg. Educated at Lorient. She began to study drawing and painting under Coroller, a professor in the school she attended. She then studied six months in the Atelier School at Strasbourg, and finally became a pupil of Dubois at Arras. She has exhibited since 1870.

Her picture of the "Strand at Lohic," 1876, is in the Luxembourg Gallery; the "Cliffs of Yport" is in the Museum of Lille; "A Calm at Villers," in the Museum at Lorient; "Coming Tide at Kervillaine," in the museum of Morlaix, etc. Her marine views are numerous and are much admired.

At the Salon of the Artistes Francais, 1902, Mme. La Villette exhibited "Twilight, Quiberon, Morbihan"; in 1903, "Fort Penthievre, Quiberon," and "A Foaming Wave."

LE BRUN, MME. See Vigee.

LEHMANN, CHARLOTTE. Born in Vienna, 1860. Daughter of an artist, Katharine Lehmann. Pupil of Schilcher and Pitner. Her works are princ.i.p.ally portraits and studies of heads, in which she is successful.

Her "Styrian Maiden" belongs to the Austrian Emperor, and is in G.o.dollo castle.