Mrs. Lee says, “We were much gratified by seeing a font in the church St. Germain de l’Auxerrois in Paris, by Madame Lamartine, the wife of the poet and historian; the font is surrounded by marble angels, who rest on its margin. It is a beautiful record of her taste, ingenuity, and benevolence.”
Paris at this period, more emphatically than ever, was the centre of active efforts among artists. “Paris—c’est la France” was an expression as true as in the literary and political life of the nation. This was advantageous for the development of talent, and the advance of skill in details; bringing rival merits more keenly into conflict, and furnishing the student with more varied means of instruction.
Painting on porcelain became much practiced by French women in the early part of the present century. Amélie Legris was skilled in it, as well as in painting in oil, miniatures, and aquarell.
Madame Jacotot was noted for her beautiful paintings on porcelain. She was sent to Italy by the French government to copy the paintings of Raphael. She lived in style, was in much society, and was distinguished for her wit.
Madame Ducluzeau is the wife of a physician, and has gained considerable celebrity as an artist. The Comtesse de Mirbel painted miniatures. Louis Philippe, and many persons of his court, and the nobility, sat to her. She was employed to copy paintings for cadeaus to royalty.
Madame Aizelin had some charming pieces in pastel in the Paris Exhibition, 1857. Transparency of tissue was never better rendered than in her gauze drapery. Madame Fontaine, a pupil of Cogniet, excelled in the department of still-life. Mademoiselle Augustine Aumont had twelve panels, giving the flowers of each month. Miss Mutrie, Mademoiselle Alloin, pupil of Rosa Bonheur, and many other women, were praised for beautiful groups of fruit and flowers. In this branch, as in portraits, miniatures, and porcelain-painting, the palm of excellence is awarded to lady artists. The productions of Madame Herbalin were conspicuous for delicacy and purity of execution and coloring.
Casting a glance at the condition of art at this period in Germany, it is noticeable that women took part with enthusiasm in almost every branch. We have observed the grounding of modern art in this country by Carstens. He went back to the purer forms of the antique, as his French contemporary, David, had done; and his restoration of purity, vigor, and tenderness, found earnest sympathy among his fair countrywomen. A style expressing the heart’s deepest feelings, and the religious veneration which had become traditional, could not fail to meet the aspirations of noble-minded female artists.
Among artist-women who flourished at the close of the eighteenth and in the present century we may mention Mademoiselle Sonnenschein, who died in 1816, a member of the Academy in Stuttgard. We should not drop, among minor names, that of Sophie Ludovika Simanowitz, born Reighenbach, whose portrait of Schiller is well known.
Magdalena Tischbein, a flower-painter, the daughter of a noted artist, married the court painter Strack, of Oldenburg, in 1795.
The Princess of Saxe-Meiningen was noted for her beautiful pictures illustrating Bible history.