Beernaerts, Euphrosine. Landscape painter. In 1873 she won a medal at Vienna, in 1875 a gold medal at the Brussels Salon, and still other medals at Philadelphia (1876), Sydney (1879), and Teplitz (1879). She was made Chévalier de l'Ordre de Léopold in 1881. Mlle. Beernaerts was born at Ostend, 1831, and studied under Kuhner in Brussels. She travelled in Germany, France, and Italy, and exhibited admirable landscapes at Brussels, Antwerp, and Paris, her favorite subjects being Dutch. In 1878 the following pictures by her were shown in Paris: "Lisière de bois dans les Dunes (Zélande)," "Le Village de Domburg (Zélande)," and "Intérieur de bois à Oost-Kapel (Holland)." Other well-known works are "Die Campine" and "Aus der Umgebung von Oosterbeck."
Begas, Luise Parmentier. Born in Vienna. Pupil of Schindler and Unger. She travelled extensively in Europe and the Orient, and spent some time in Sicily. She married Adalbert Begas in 1877 and then established her studio in Berlin. Her subjects are landscape, architectural monuments, and interiors. Some of the latter are especially fine. Her picture of the "Burial Ground at Scutari" was an unusual subject at the time it was exhibited and attracted much attention.
Her rich gift in the use of color is best seen in her pictures of still life and flowers. In Berlin, in 1890, she exhibited "Before the Walls of Constantinople" and "From Constantinople," which were essentially different from her earlier works and attracted much attention. "Taormina in Winter" more nearly resembled her earlier pictures.
Fräulein Parmentier also studied etching, in which art Unger was her instructor. In her exquisite architectural pictures and landscapes she has represented Italian motives almost exclusively. Among these are her views of Venice and other South Italian sketches, which are also the subjects of some of her etchings.
Belle, Mlle. Andrée. Member of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts. Born in Paris. Pupil of Cazin. Paints in oils and pastels, landscapes especially, of which she exhibited seventeen in June, 1902. The larger part of these were landscape portraits, so to speak, as they were done on the spots represented with faithfulness to detail. The subjects were pleasing, and the various hours of day, with characteristic lighting, unusually well rendered.
At the Salon des Beaux Arts, 1902, this artist exhibited a large pastel, "A Halt at St. Mammès" and a "Souvenir of Bormes," showing the tomb of Cazin. In 1903 she exhibited a pastel called "Calvary," now in the Museum at Amiens, which has been praised for its harmony of color and the manner in which the rainbow is represented. Her pictures of "Twilight" and "Sunset" are unusually successful.
Benato-Beltrami, Elisabetta. Painter and sculptor of the nineteenth century, living in Padua since 1858. Her talent, which showed itself early, was first developed by an unknown painter named Soldan, and later at the Royal Academy in Venice. She made copies of Guido, Sassoferrato and Veronese, the Laokoon group, and the Hercules of Canova, and executed a much-admired bas-relief called "Love and Innocence." Among her original paintings are an "Atala and Chactas," "Petrarch's First Meeting with Laura," a "Descent from the Cross" for the church at Tribano, a "St. Sebastian," "Melancholy," a "St. Ciro," and many Madonnas. Her pictures are noble in conception and firm in execution.
Benito y Tejada, Benita. Born in Bilboa, where she first studied drawing; later she went to Madrid, where she entered the Escuela superior. In the Exposition of 1876 at Madrid "The Guardian" was shown, and in 1881 a large canvas representing "The First Step."
Bernhardt, Sarah. In 1869 this famous actress watched Mathieu-Meusnier making a bust. She made her criticisms and they were always just. The sculptor told her that she had the eye of an artist and should use her talent in sculpture. Not long after she brought to him a medallion portrait of her aunt. So good was it that Mathieu-Meusnier seriously encouraged her to persevere in her art. She was fascinated by the thought of what might be possible for her, took a studio, and sent to the Salon in 1875 a bust, which attracted much attention. In 1876 she exhibited "After the Tempest," the subject taken from the story of a poor woman who, having buried two sons, saw the body of her last boy washed ashore after a storm. This work was marvellously effective, and a great future as a sculptress was foretold for the "divine Sara." At the Salon of 1878 she exhibited two portrait busts in bronze.
This remarkable woman is a painter also, and exhibited a picture called "La jeune Fille et la Mort." One critic wrote of it: "Sarah's picture shows very considerable feeling for color and more thought than the vast majority of modern paintings. The envious and evil speakers, who always want to say nasty things, pretend to trace in the picture very frequent touches of Alfred Stevens, who has been Sarah's master in painting, as Mathieu-Meusnier was in sculpture. However that may be, Sarah has posed her figures admirably and her coloring is excellent. It is worthy of notice that, being as yet a comparative beginner, she has not attempted to give any expression to the features of the young girl over whose shoulder Death is peeping."