She claims that it is excellent for life-size portraits in water-colors. The paper she uses is heavier than any made in this country, and must be imported; the water-colors are very strong. Mrs. Baker claims that in this method she gets "the strength of oils with the daintiness of water-colors, and that it is beautiful for women and children, and sufficiently strong for portraits of men."
She rarely exhibits, and her portraits are in private houses.
Bakhuyzen, Juffrouw Gerardina Jacoba van de Sande. Silver medal at The Hague, 1857; honorary medal at Amsterdam, 1861; another at The Hague, 1863; and a medal of distinction at Amsterdam Colonial Exhibition, 1885. Daughter of the well-known animal painter. From childhood she painted flowers, and for a time this made no especial impression on her family or friends, as it was not an uncommon occupation for girls. At length her father saw that this daughter, Gerardina—for he had numerous daughters, and they all desired to be artists—had talent, and when, in 1850, the Minerva Academy at Groningen gave out "Roses and Dahlias" as a subject, and offered a prize of a little more than ten dollars for the best example, he encouraged Gerardina to enter the contest. She received the contemptible reward, and found, to her astonishment, that the Minerva Academy considered the picture as belonging to them.
However, this affair brought the name of the artist to the knowledge of the public, and she determined to devote herself to the painting of flowers and fruit, in which she has won unusual fame. There is no sameness in her pictures, and her subjects do not appear to be "arranged"—everything seems to have fallen into its place by chance and to be entirely natural.
Gerardina Jacoba and her brother Julius van de Sande Bakhuyzen, the landscape painter, share one studio. She paints with rapidity, as one must in order to picture the freshness of fast-fading flowers.
Johan Gram writes of her: "If she paints a basket of peaches or plums, they look as if just picked by the gardener and placed upon the table, without any thought of studied effect; some leaves covering the fruit, others falling out of the basket in the most natural way. If she paints the branch of a rose-tree, it seems to spring from the ground with its flowers in all their luxurious wantonness, and one can almost imagine one's self inhaling their delightful perfume. This talented artist knows so well how to depict with her brush the transparency and softness of the tender, ethereal rose, that one may seek in vain among a crowd of artists for her equal.... The paintings are all bright and sunny, and we are filled with enthusiasm when gazing at her powerful works."
This artist was born in 1826 and died in 1895. She lived and died in her family residence. In 1850, at Groningen, she took for her motto, "Be true to nature and you will produce that which is good." To this she remained faithful all her days.
Baldwin, Edith Ella. Born at Worcester, Massachusetts. Studied in Paris at Julian Academy, under Bouguereau and Robert-Fleury; at the Colarossi studios under Courtois, also under Julius Rolshoven and Mosler.
Paints portraits and miniatures. At the Salon of the Champ de Mars she exhibited a portrait in pastel, in 1901; at exhibitions of the Society of American Artists in 1898 and 1899 she exhibited miniatures; also pictures in oils at Worcester, 1903.
Ball, Caroline Peddle. Honorable mention at Paris Exhibition, 1900. Member of the Guild of Arts and Crafts and of Art Students' League. Born at Terre Haute, Indiana. Pupil at the Art Students' League, under Augustus St. Gaudens and Kenyon Cox.