Women artists in all ages and countries

by E. F. Ellet

Mary Anna Bösenbacher, of Cologne, an engraver, was engaged in the service of the Elector Max Francis.

Barbara Krafft, born Steiner, of Iglau, painted a number of genre-pictures of life size, and in this branch was the precursor of Madame Jerichow-Baumann. She died in Bamberg, in 1825, aged sixty.

One who was busy in Rome at this time was Maria Ellenrieder. She had before visited the Academy in Munich for the purpose of educating herself in historical painting. In her works she sought to revive the spirit of ancient German art, and her longings drew her to the city which has long been the resort of ambitious art-students, where we find her in 1820. Among her productions are many altar-pieces, representing the Holy Family. Some have been lithographed. Since 1825 she has lived in Germany, where she has completed many works, and has practiced the art of etching.

Louise Caroline Seidler was at the same time in Rome. Born in Jena, she studied painting in Munich under Professor Von Langer, afterward going to Italy to profit by the works of Pietro Perugino and Raphael. She received the appointment of court painter in Weimar, and executed several pictures that belong to the romantic genre school. A splendid fruit of her study of the old masters is a collection of heads taken from celebrated pictures of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These were lithographed by Von Schmeller, and published in Weimar in 1836.

Among the German artists in Rome at the same period was Electrine Stuntz, afterward Baroness von Freiberg. She was the daughter of a landscape-painter of Strasburg, and devoted herself to historical pieces. She was in the Eternal City during 1821 and the following year, and was elected an honorary member of the Academy of San Luca, occupying a position similar to that held by Angelica Kauffman. Her works have a serious character, and Madonna pictures abound in them. About 1823 she was married to Baron von Freiberg, and thenceforward divided her cares between her family and her art. Several of her etchings were greatly admired, and brought her high reputation.

Madame Caroline von Schroeter belongs to the same period. She became distinguished in Rome in 1826 by her beautiful miniature-paintings, and was there chosen member of the Academy of San Luca.

A few female artists belonged to the Düsseldorf school, while in Weimar they were indefatigable in supporting the ancient reputation. But the greatest number is to be found in Berlin. The impetus there given in various departments of learning, and the patronage of royal connoisseurs, with the superior cultivation of the people, had the happiest effect, and brought out the richest bloom of female talent. No branch of modern art has there been neglected by women, and several have displayed a genius for sculpture. Dilettanti of the highest rank have turned their attention to painting; and those who have pursued art as a profession, from dignified history-pieces down to flowers and landscapes, have met with encouraging success. In flower-painting and arabesques some very important improvements have recently been made.

In the other cities of Germany, where women have successfully engaged in such pursuits, less has been done. Few have taken to the profession in Vienna, though Dresden has maintained the old repute in this particular, and her Academy is to this day a genial nursery of female talent.

Italy, the birthplace of the fine arts, has experienced the change common to all mundane things, and the participation of her women in art is by no means so great and significant as in earlier ages. Yet a few names may be ranked with those who have gone before. Turin, Milan, and Rome have each produced fair artists of distinction in various branches, and their success promises to open the way to future enterprise.

Not so fair is the prospect in Spain and among the Scandinavian nations. In England, on the other hand, both sculpture and painting have been successfully cultivated during the present century. We may mention, in passing, Fanny Corbeaux, an artist and distinguished Biblical scholar, born in 1812. When she was only fifteen years of age her father suddenly lost his property, and became indigent. The daughter had received only superficial instruction in drawing, but determined to use her small skill to support her father and herself. With the ardent spirit of youth she threw herself into the undertaking, sparing herself no severe labor, and so well directed were her efforts that, before the end of the year, she obtained a silver medal for water-color drawings. Within the next three years she received another similar token of approbation, and the gold medal of the Society of Arts.