Part 46 (2/2)
Among her later portraits are those of Mrs. James Sullivan, one of the lady commissioners of the St. Louis Exposition; Lieut.-Gen. Nelson A.
Miles; Albert, son of Dr. Shaw, editor of the _Review of Reviews_; Mrs.
A. A. F. Johnston, former Dean of Oberlin College; Augustus S. Miller, mayor of Providence; Hon. L. F. C. Garvin, governor of Rhode Island; and Judge Austin Adams, late of the Supreme Court of Iowa.
THURw.a.n.gER, FELICITe CHASTANIER. This remarkable artist, not long since, when eighty-four years old, sent to the exhibition at Nice--which is, in a sense, a branch of the Paris Salon--three portraits which she had just finished. ”They were hung in the place of honor and unanimously voted to belong to the first cla.s.s.”
Mme. Thurw.a.n.ger was the pupil of Delacroix during five years. The master unconsciously did his pupil an injury by saying to her father: ”That daughter of yours is wonderfully gifted, and if she were a man I would make a great artist of her.” Hearing this, the young artist burst into tears, and her whole career was clouded by the thought that her s.e.x prevented her being a really great artist, and induced in her an abnormal modesty. This occurred about forty-five years ago; since then we have signally changed all that!
Delacroix, who was an enthusiast in color, was the leader of one school of his time, and was opposed by Ingres, who was so wanting in this regard that he was accused of being color-blind.
Mme. Thurw.a.n.ger had a curious experience with these artists. When but seventeen she was commissioned by the Government to copy a picture in the Louvre. One morning, when she was working in the Gallery, Ingres pa.s.sed by and stopped to look at her picture. He examined it carefully, and with an expression of satisfaction said: ”I am so very glad to see that you have the true idea of art! Remember always that there is no color in Nature; the outline is all; if the outline is good, no matter about the coloring, the picture will be good.”
This story would favor the color-blind theory, as Ingres apparently saw color neither in the original nor the copy.
An hour later Delacroix came to watch the work of his pupil, and after a few minutes exclaimed: ”I am so happy, my dear girl, to see that you have the true and only spirit of art. Never forget that in Nature there is no line, no outline; everything is color!”
In 1852 Mme. Thurw.a.n.ger was in Philadelphia and remained more than two years. She exhibited her pictures, which were favorably noticed by the Philadelphia _Enquirer_. In July of the above year her portraits were enthusiastically praised. ”Not a lineament, not a feature, however trivial, escapes the all-searching eye of the artist, who has the happy faculty of causing the expression of the mind and soul to beam forth in the life-like and speaking face.”
In October, 1854, her picture of a ”Madonna and Child” was thus noticed by the same paper: ”For brilliancy, animation, maternal solicitude, form, grace, and feature, it would be difficult to imagine anything more impressive. It is in every sense a gem of the pictorial art, while the execution and finish are such as genius alone could inspire.”
TIRLINKS, LIEWENA. Born in Bruges, a daughter of Master Simon. This lady was not only esteemed as an artist in London, but she won the heart of an English n.o.bleman, to whom she was given in marriage by Henry VIII.
Her miniatures were much admired and greatly in fas.h.i.+on at the court.
Some critics have thought the Tirlinks to be the same person with Liewena Bennings or Benic, whose story, as we know it, is much the same as the above.
TORMOCZY, BERTHA VON. Diploma of honor, Budapest and Agram. Born at Innspruck, 1846. Pupil of Hausch, Her, and Schindler. Among her pictures are ”Girl in the Garden,” ”Blossoming Meadows,” ”Autumn Morning,” and a variety of landscapes.
TORO, PETRONELLA. A painter of miniatures on ivory which have attained distinction. Among those best known are the portraits of the Prince of Carignano, Duke Amadeo, and the d.u.c.h.ess d'Aosta with the sons of the Prince of Carignano. She has painted a young woman in an antique dress and another in a modern costume. Her works are distinguished by firmness of touch and great intelligence. She has executed some most attractive landscapes.
TREU, OR TREY, KATHARINA. Born at Bamberg. 1742-1811. A successful painter of flowers and still-life. Her talent was remarkable when but a child, and her father, who was her only master, began her lessons when she was ten years old. When still young she was appointed court painter at Mannheim, and in 1776 was made a professor in the Academy at Dusseldorf. Her pictures are in the Galleries of Bamberg and Carlsruhe, and in the Darmstadt and Stuttgart Museums.
URRUTIA DE URMENETA, ANA GERTRUDIS DE. Member of the Academy of Fine Arts, Cadiz, 1846. Born in Cadiz. 1812-1850. She began the study of drawing with Javier, and after her marriage to Juan Jose de Urmeneta, professor of painting and sculpture and director of the Cadiz Academy, continued her work under his direction. A ”St. Filomena” and ”Resurrection of the Body,” exhibited in 1846, are among her best pictures. Her ”St. Jeronimo” is in the new cathedral at Cadiz, and the Academy has shown respect to her memory by placing her portrait in the room in which its sessions are held.
VIANI, MARIA. Born at Bologna. 1670-1711. I find no reliable biographical account of this artist, whose name appears in the catalogue of the Dresden Gallery as the painter of the ”Reclining Venus, lying on a blue cus.h.i.+on, with a Cupid at her side.”
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