Her portrait, coarsely engraved, is published by Descampes. She had a noble style of face, with strongly marked features. The hair is dressed in a point in front; the neckerchief and dress are worn in antiquated style.
Among the distinguished artists of the seventeenth century we must not omit
ANNA WASSER.
She was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1676, and is esteemed by the Swiss as one of their most eminent painters. Her father was Rudolph Wasser, a member of the Grand Council of Zurich, and artist of the foundation of the Cathedral. She very early evinced a remarkable faculty for learning languages, and at the age of twelve was familiar with Latin and French, and acquainted with the general literature of those tongues. Her rapid progress in belles-lettres astonished every body, and gave the promise of wonderful attainments; but the bent of her genius was for art. She took lessons of the painter Joseph Werner, and had no sooner learned to handle a pencil, than she could think of nothing else. When thirteen years old she made a copy of Werner’s “Flora” in Bern, which convinced all her friends that she was destined by nature for an artist. The painter himself praised her correct design and perfect imitation of his coloring, and advised her father to send her to Bern to study. She spent three years in the school; at first employing herself in oil painting, but finally abandoning that for miniatures. By the time her education was completed she had reached a perfection little short of that of her teacher.
Returning to Zurich, she devoted herself to art as a profession. Her productions were taken to England, Holland, and Germany, where they were greatly admired, and her contemporaries extolled her as a second Schurmann. There was scarcely a court in the German empire from which she had not commissions. Those of Baden-Durlach and Stuttgard disputed which should possess the greatest number of her works. The Duke of Wurtemberg, Eberhard Louis, and his sister, the Margravine von Durlach, sent her large portraits to be painted in miniature.
While Anna’s fame spread throughout Germany, her very success tended to throw difficulties in the way of her artistic progress. Her father was pressed with the care of a large family, and thought his interests would be favored more by multiplying the number of his daughter’s works, than by allowing her time to finish them. He urged her continually to new enterprises. Thus depressed and tied to sordid cares, Anna lost her spirits and fell into a melancholy that threatened to destroy her health. Happily, at this time, the court of Solms Braunfels made her favorable proposals of employment. She accepted the invitation, went there with one of her brothers, and soon found she would be enabled to indulge her taste for elaborating and perfecting her paintings. She rapidly regained her cheerfulness, and became the delight and admiration of the circles in which she moved. Again her father’s avarice disturbed this agreeable state of things. He sent her an abrupt summons to return home, where he expected her to do more work for his benefit. She obeyed the command, but on the journey, made in such haste, she got a severe fall, the effects of which terminated her life in 1713, at the age of thirty-four.
Fuseli possessed a painting in oil done by Anna Wasser at the age of thirteen. He gave her praise for correctness of outline, and for spirit of coloring. She appears to have excelled most in pastoral and rural pieces, which it was her delight to paint. Her compositions were marked by great ingenuity, and were finished with exquisite delicacy.
Her literary accomplishments procured her the friendship of the most eminent scholars of her day in Germany; such as Werner, Meyer, Hubert, Steller, etc., and she corresponded with many celebrated persons. Among her female friends was Clara Eimart, already mentioned among German artists. Her manners were gentle and dignified, and her character was pure and blameless. To filial obedience she would at any time sacrifice her own inclinations; indeed she often carried her devotion to excess.
The portrait given of her shows delicate and sharply defined features. The hair is worn in Grecian style, with ringlets at the side, and braids falling on her neck. She appears surrounded with flowers, with baskets of fruit beside her.
Maria Theresa van Thielen, and her two sisters, the daughters of an artist of noble family, were instructed by him in flower-painting, the first excelling also in portraits.