Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D Part 9

BILDERS, MARIE. Family name Van Bosse. Born in Amsterdam, 1837; died in Wiesbaden, 1900. Pupil of Van de Sande-Bakhuyzen, Bosboom, and Johannes W. Bilders. Settled in Oosterbeck, and painted landscapes from views in the neighborhood. This artist was important, and her works are admired especially by certain Dutch artists who are famous in all countries. These facts are well known to me from good authority, but I fail to find a list of her works or a record of their present position.[1]

[Footnote 1: See Appendix.]

BILINSKA, ANNA. Received the small gold medal at Berlin in 1891, and won distinguished recognition at other international exhibitions in Berlin and Munich by her portraits and figure studies. She was born in Warsaw in 1858, and died there in 1893. She studied in Paris, where she quickly became a favorite painter of aristocratic Russians and Poles. Her pictures are strong and of brilliant technique.

BIONDI, NICOLA. Born at Capua, 1866. This promising young Italian painter was a pupil of the Inst.i.tute of Fine Arts in Naples. One of her pictures, called "Una part.i.ta," was exhibited at Naples and attracted much attention. It was purchased by Duke Martini. Another, "Ultima Prova," was exhibited in Rome and favorably noticed.

BLAU, TINA. Honorable mention in Paris, 1883, for her "Spring in the Prater." Her "Land Party" is in the possession of the Emperor of Austria, and "In Spring-time" belongs to the Prince Regent of Bavaria.

This talented landscape painter was born in Vienna, 1847. She was a pupil of Schaffer in Vienna, and of W. Lindenschmitt in Munich. After travelling in Austria, Holland, and Italy, she followed her predilection for landscape, and chose her themes in great part from those countries.

In 1884 she married Heinrich Lang, painter of battle scenes (who died in 1891), and she now works alternately in Munich and Vienna. In 1890 she gave an exhibition of her pictures in Munich; they were thought to show great vigor of composition and color and much delicacy of artistic perception. Her foreign scenes, especially, are characterized by unusual local truth and color. Among her best works are "Studies from the Prater in Vienna," "Ca.n.a.l at Amsterdam," "Harvest Day in Holland," "The Arch of t.i.tus in Rome," "Street in Venice," and "Late Summer."

BLOCH, MME. ELISA. Honorable mention, 1894. Officer of public instruction, Commander of the Order of the Liberator; Chevalier of the Order of the Dragon of Annam. Born at Breslau, Silesia, 1848. Pupil of Chapu. She first exhibited at the Salon of 1878, a medallion portrait of M. Bloch; this was followed by "Hope," the "Golden Age," "Virginius Sacrificing his Daughter," "Moses Receiving the Tables of the Law," etc.

Mme. Bloch has made numerous portrait busts, among them being the kings of Spain and Portugal, Buffalo Bill, C. Flammarion, etc.

At the Salon of the Artistes Francais, 1903, Mme. Bloch exhibited a "Portrait of M. Frederic Pa.s.sy, Member of the Inst.i.tute."

BOCCARDO, LINA ZERBINAH. Rome.

[_No reply to circular_.]

BOEMM, RITTA. A Hungarian artist. Has been much talked of in Dresden. She certainly possesses distinguished talents, and is easily in the front rank of Dresden women artists. Her gouache pictures dealing with Hungarian subjects, a "Village Street," a "Peasant Farm," a "Churchyard," exhibited at Dresden in 1892, were well drawn and full of sentiment, but lacking in color sense and power. She works unevenly and seems pleased when she succeeds in setting a scene cleverly. She paints portraits also, mostly in pastel, which are spirited, but not especially good likenesses. What she can do in the way of color may be seen in her "Village Street in Winter," a picture of moderate size, in which the light is exquisite; unfortunately most of her painting is less admirable than this.

BOISSONNAS, MME. CAROLINE SORDET. Honorable mention at the Salon of Lyons, 1897. Member of the Exposition Permanente Amis des Beaux-Arts, Geneva. Born in Geneva. Pupil of the School of Fine Arts, Geneva, under Prof. F. Gillet and M. E. Ravel.

This artist paints portraits princ.i.p.ally. She has been successful, and her pictures are in Geneva, Lausanne, Vevey, Paris, Lyons, Ma.r.s.eilles, Dresden, Naples, etc.

BOMPIANI-BATTAGLIA, CLELIA. Born in Rome, 1847. Pupil of her father, Roberto Bompiani, and of the professors in the Academy of St.

Luke. The following pictures in water-colors have established her reputation as an artist: "Confidential Communication," 1885; the "Fortune-Teller," 1887; "A Public Copyist," 1888; and "The Wooing," 1888.

BONHEUR, JULIETTE--MME. PEYROL. Born at Paris. Sister of Rosa Bonheur, and a pupil of her father. Among her pictures are "A Flock of Geese," "A Flock of Sheep Lying Down," and kindred subjects. The last-named work was much remarked at the Salon of 1875. In 1878 she exhibited "The Pool" and "The Mother's Kiss."

Mme. Peyrol was a.s.sociated with her famous sister in the conduct of the Free School of Design, founded by Rosa Bonheur in 1849.

BONHEUR, MARIE ROSALIE. 1822-99. Member of Antwerp Inst.i.tute, 1868.

Salon medals, 1845, 1848, 1855, 1867; Legion of Honor, 1865; Leopold Cross, 1880; Commander's Cross, Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic, 1880. Born in Bordeaux. She was taught drawing by her father, who, perceiving that she had unusual talent, permitted her to give up dressmaking, to which, much against her will, she had been apprenticed.

From 1855 her fame was established; she was greatly appreciated, and her works competed for in England and the United States, as well as in European countries.

Her chief merit is the actual truthfulness with which she represented animals. Her skies might be bettered in some cases--the atmosphere of her pictures was sometimes open to question--but her animals were anatomically perfect and handled with such virility as few men have excelled or even equalled. Her position as an artist is so established that no quoted opinions are needed when speaking of her--she was one of the most famous women of her century.

Her home at By was near Fontainebleau, where she lived quietly, and for some years held gratuitous cla.s.ses for drawing. She left, at her death, a collection of pictures, studies, etchings, etc., which were sold by auction in Paris soon after.

Her "Ploughing in the Nivernais," 1848, is in the Luxembourg Gallery; "The Horse Fair," 1853, is seen in the National Gallery, London, in a replica, the original being in the United States, purchased by the late A. T. Stewart. Her "Hay Harvest in the Auvergne," 1855, is one of her most important works. After 1867 Mlle. Bonheur did not exhibit at the Salon until 1899, a few weeks before her death.

One must pay a tribute to this artist as a good and generous woman. She founded the Free School of Design for Girls, and in 1849 took the direction of it and devoted much of her valuable time to its interests.

How valuable an hour was to her we may understand when we remember that Hamerton says: "I have seen work of hers which, according to the price given, must have paid her a hundred pounds for each day's labor."

The story of her life is of great interest, and can be but slightly sketched here.

She was afoot betimes in the morning, and often walked ten or twelve miles and worked hard all day. The difficulty of reaching her models proved such a hindrance to her that she conceived the idea of visiting the abattoirs, where she could see animals living and dead and study their anatomy.

It is not easy to imagine all the difficulties she encountered in doing this--the many repulsive features of such places--while the company of drovers and butchers made one of the disagreeables of her pursuits. Her love for the animals, too, made it doubly hard for her to see them in the death agony and listen to their pitiful cries for freedom.

In all this experience, however, she met no rude or unkind treatment. Her drawings won the admiration of the men who watched her make them and they treated her with respect. She pursued her studies in the same manner in the stables of the Veterinary School at Alfort and in the Jardin des Plantes.

At other times she studied in the country the quiet grazing herds, and, though often mistaken for a boy on account of the dress she wore, she inspired only admiration for her simplicity and frankness of manner, while the graziers and horse-dealers respectfully regarded her and wondered at her skill in picturing their favorite animals. Some very amusing stories might be told of her comical embarra.s.sments in her country rambles, when she was determined to preserve her disguise and the pretty girls were equally determined to make love to her!

Aside from all this laborious study of living animals, she obtained portions of dead creatures for dissection; also moulds, casts, and ill.u.s.trated anatomical books; and, in short, she left no means untried by which she could perfect herself in the specialty she had chosen. Her devotion to study and to the practice of her art was untiring, and only the most engrossing interest in it and an indomitable perseverance, supplemented and supported by a physically and morally healthful organization, could have sustained the nervous strain of her life from the day when she was first allowed to follow her vocation to the time when she placed herself in the front rank of animal painters.

A most charming picture is drawn of the life of the Bonheur family in the years when Rosa was making her progressive steps. They lived in an humble house in the Rue Rumfort, the father, Auguste, Isidore, and Rosa all working in the same studio. She had many birds and a pet sheep. As the apartment of the Bonheurs was on the sixth floor, this sheep lived on the leads, and from time to time Isidore bore him on his shoulders down all the stairs to the neighboring square, where the animal could browse on the real gra.s.s, and afterward be carried back by one of the devoted brothers of his mistress. They were very poor, but they were equally happy. At evening Rosa made small models or ill.u.s.trations for books or alb.u.ms, which the dealers readily bought, and by this means she added to the family store for needs or pleasures.

In 1841, when Rosa was nineteen years old, she first experienced the pleasures, doubts, and fears attendant upon a public exhibition of one's work. Two small pictures, called "Goats and Sheep" and "Two Rabbits,"

were hung at the Salon and were praised by critics and connoisseurs. The next year she sent three others, "Animals in a Pasture," "A Cow Lying in a Meadow," and "A Horse for Sale." She continued to send pictures to the Salon and to some exhibitions in other cities, and received several bronze and silver medals.

In 1845 she sent twelve works to the Salon, accompanied by those of her father and her brother Auguste, who was admitted that year for the first time. In 1848 Isidore was added to the list, exhibiting a picture and a group in marble, both representing "A Combat between a Lioness and an African Horseman." And, finally, the family contributions were completed when Juliette, now Madame Peyrol, added her pictures, and the works of the five artists were seen in the same Exhibition.

In 1849 Rosa Bonheur's "Cantal Oxen" was awarded the gold medal, and was followed by "Ploughing in the Nivernais," so well known the world over by engravings and photographs. When the medal was a.s.signed her, Horace Vernet proclaimed her triumph to a brilliant a.s.semblage, and also presented to her a magnificent vase of Sevres porcelain, in the name of the French Government. This placed her in the first rank of living artists, and the triumph was of double value to her on account of the happiness it afforded her father, to see this, his oldest child, of whose future he had often despaired, taking so eminent a place in the artistic world.

This year of success was also a year of sorrow, for before its end the old Raymond had died. He had been for some time the director of the Government School of Design for Girls, and, being freed from pecuniary anxiety, he had worked with new courage and hope. After her father's death Rosa Bonheur exhibited nothing for two years, but in 1853 she brought out her "Horse Fair," which added to her fame.

She was perfectly at home in the mountains, and spent much time in the huts of charcoal burners, huntsmen, or woodcutters, contented with the food they could give her and happy in her study. Thus she made her sketches for "Morning in the Highlands," "The Denizens of the Mountains,"

etc. She once lived six weeks with her party on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, where they saw no one save muleteers going and coming, with their long lines of loaded mules. Their only food was frogs' legs, which they prepared themselves, and the black bread and curdled milk which the country afforded. At evening the muleteers would amuse the strangers by dancing the national dances, and then repose in picturesque groups just suited to artistic sketching. In Scotland and in Switzerland, as well as in various portions of her own country, she had similar experiences, and her "Hay-Making in Auvergne" proves that she was familiar with the more usual phases of country life. At the Knowles sale in London, in 1865, her picture of "Spanish Muleteers Crossing the Pyrenees," one of the results of the above sojourn in these mountains, sold for two thousand guineas, about ten thousand dollars. I believe that, in spite of the large sums of money that she received, her habitual generosity and indifference to wealth prevented her ama.s.sing a large fortune, but her fame as an artist and her womanly virtues brought the rewards which she valued above anything that wealth could bestow--such rewards as will endure through centuries and surround the name of Rosa Bonheur with glory, rewards which she untiringly labored to attain.

BONSALL, ELIZABETH F. First Toppan prize, and Mary Smith prize twice, at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Member of Plastic Club, Philadelphia. Born at Philadelphia. Studied at the above-named Academy and in Paris; also at the Drexel Inst.i.tute, Philadelphia, under Eakins, Courtois, Collin, and Howard Pyle.

Miss Bonsall is well known for her pictures of cats. She ill.u.s.trated the "Fireside Sphinx," by Agnes Repplier. Her picture of "Hot Milk" is in the Pennsylvania Academy; her "Suspense," in a private gallery in New York.

An interesting chapter in Miss Winslow's book, "Concerning Cats," is called "Concerning Cat Artists," in which she writes: "Elizabeth Bonsall is a young American artist who has exhibited some good cat pictures, and whose work promises to make her famous some day if she does not 'weary in well-doing.'"