THE ARTIST IN SILK.
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. Michel Carré, who saw one of her portraits, says, “It can scarcely be believed it is not done by the pencil.” One of her pieces brought five hundred florins. It represented the decayed trunk of a tree, covered with moss and leaves. On the top a bird has made her nest. The shading and the sky in the distance left nothing to be desired for coloring and truthful effect. The Grand-Duke of Tuscany purchased one of her finest pieces, which is yet preserved among the curiosities of his collection. She was never married, and died at the age of fifty, in 1682.