MINIATURE OF PERSIS BLAIR
Laura Coombs Hills
Miss Hills is a prominent and successful miniaturist, and her numerous pictures are in the possession of her subjects. They are decidedly individual in character. No matter how simple her arrangements, she gives her pictures a cachet of distinction. It may be "a lady in a black gown with a black aigrette in her hair and a background of delicate turquoise blue, or the delicate profile of a red-haired beauty, outlined against tapestry, the snowy head and shoulders rising out of dusky brown velvet; but the effect is gem-like, a revelation of exquisite coloring that is entirely artistic."
"An attractive work," reproduced here, "may be called a miniature picture. It is a portrait of a little lady, apparently six or seven years old, in an artistic old-fashioned gown, the bodice low in neck and cut in sharp point at the waist line in front; elbow sleeves, slippers with large rosettes, just peeping out from her dress, her feet not touching the floor, so high is she seated. Her hair, curling about her face, is held back by a ribbon bandeau in front; one long, heavy curl rests on the left side of her neck, and is surmounted by a big butterfly bow. The costume and pose are delightful and striking at first sight, but the more the picture is studied the more the face attracts the attention it merits. It is a sweet little girl's face, modest and sensible. She is holding the arm of her seat with a sort of determination to sit that way and be looked at so long as she must, but her expression shows that she is thinking hard of something that she intends to do so soon as she can jump down and run away to her more interesting occupations."
Hinman, Leana McLennan.
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Hitz, Dora. Born at Altdorf, near Nuremberg, 1856. During eight years she worked under the direction of Lindenschmit, 1870-1878. She was then invited to Bucharest by the Queen of Roumania, "Carmen Sylva." Here the artist illustrated the Queen's poem, "Ada," with a series of water-color sketches, and painted two landscapes from Roumanian scenery. Between 1883 and 1886 she made sketches for the mural decoration of the music-room at the castle of Sinoia. Later, in Brittany and Normandy, she made illustrations for the fisher-romances of Pierre Loti. At Berlin, in 1891-1892, she painted portraits, and then retired to Charlottenburg. Her exhibition of two beautiful pictures in gouache, at Dresden, in 1892, brought her into notice, and her grasp of her subjects and her method of execution were much commended.
Fräulein Hitz could not stem the "classic" art creed of Berlin, where the "new idealism" is spurned. She ventured to exhibit some portraits and studies there in 1894, and was most unfavorably criticised. At Munich, however, in 1895, her exhibition was much admired at the "Secession." Again, in 1898, she exhibited, in Berlin, at the Union of Eleven, a portrait of a young girl, which was received with no more favor than was shown her previous works. In the same year, at the "Livre Esthetique," in Brussels, her pictures were thought to combine a charming grace with a sure sense of light effects, in which the predominating tone was a deep silver gray. A portrait by this artist was exhibited at a Paris Salon in 1895.
Hoffmann, Felicitas. Born in Venice, she died in Dresden, 1760. Pupil of Rosalba Camera. There are four pictures in the Dresden Gallery attributed to her—"St. George," after Correggio; "Diana with an Italian Greyhound," after Camera; "Winter," a half-length figure by herself; and her own portrait. Her principal works were religious subjects and portraits.
Hoffmann-Tedesco, Giulia. Prize at the Beatrice Exposition, Naples. Born at Wurzburg, 1850. This artist has lived in Italy and made her artistic success there, her works having been seen in many exhibitions. Her prize picture at Naples was called "A Mother's Joy." In 1877 she exhibited in the same city "Sappho" and "A Mother," which were much admired; at Turin, 1880, "On the Water" and "The Dance" were seen; at Milan, 1881, she exhibited "Timon of Athens" and a "Sunset"; at Rome, 1883, "A Gipsy Girl" and "Flowers." Her flower pictures are excellent; they are represented with truth, spirit, and grace.