In America the practice of art by woman is but in its commencement. Although many names of female artists are now familiar to the public, and the number is rapidly increasing, few have had time to accomplish all for which they may possess the ability. The prospect, however, is one most flattering to our national pride.

The sketches of living American women who are pursuing art are chiefly prepared from materials furnished by their friends. They are given in simplicity, and may appear imperfect, but we hope indulgence may be extended to them where they are inadequate to do justice to the subject.

Rosalba Torrens is mentioned by Ramsay, in his History of South Carolina, as a meritorious landscape-painter. Praise is also bestowed on Eliza Torrens, afterward Mrs. Cochran. Miss Mary Murray painted in crayons and water-colors in New York, and produced many life-sized portraits, which gained her celebrity. Madame Planteau painted in Washington about 1820, and was highly esteemed.

Dunlap mentions Mrs. Lupton as a modeler. She presented a bust of Governor Throop to the National Academy of Design in New York, of which she was an honorary member. Many of her paintings elicited high commendation. She executed many busts in clay, of her friends. There was hardly a branch of delicate workmanship in which she did not excel, and her literary attainments were varied and extensive. She was an excellent French scholar, and a proficient in Latin, Italian, and Spanish, besides having mastered the Hebrew sufficiently to read the Old Testament with ease. In English literature she was thoroughly versed, and was an advanced student in botany and natural history.

She was the daughter of Dr. Platt Townsend, and was married early in life. Mr. Lupton, a gentleman of high professional and literary attainments, resided in the city of New York. After his death his widow devoted herself to study, that she might be qualified to educate her young daughter, and, after the loss of this only child, pursued knowledge as a solace for her sorrows. Her talents and accomplishments, her elevated virtues and charities, and her attractive social qualities drew around her a circle of warm and admiring friends. She lived a short time in Canada, and died at the house of a relative on Long Island.

Miss Charlotte Denning, of Plattsburgh, is spoken of as a clever miniature-painter, and also Miss O’Hara, in New York. Miss Jane Sully (Mrs. Darley), the daughter of the celebrated artist, is mentioned as an artist of merit. Mrs. Goodrich, of Boston, painted an excellent portrait of Gilbert Stuart, which was engraved by Durand for the National Portrait Gallery. Her miniatures have great merit, and are marked by truth and expression.

Margaret Foley was a member of the New England School of Design, and gave instruction in drawing and painting. She resided in Lowell, and was frequently applied to for her cameos, which she cut beautifully. Miss Sarah Mackintosh was accustomed to draw on stone for a large glass company, and other ladies designed in the carpet factory at Lowell and in the Merrimack print-works, showing the ability of women to engage in such occupations.

Several have made a livelihood by the business of engraving on wood, and drawing for different works.

Mrs. Ball Hughes, of Boston, the wife of the sculptor, supported her family by painting and by giving lessons in the art. Mrs. Chapin had a large drawing school in Providence, and, with facility in every style, is said to be admirable in crayons. Many others might be mentioned, but it does not comport with the design of this work to record even the names of all who deserve the tribute of praise.

ANNA C. PEALE (MRS. DUNCAN).

Several ladies of the Peale family have been distinguished as artists, and are mentioned in the histories of painting in America. The parents of the subject of this sketch were Captain James Peale and Mary Claypoole. Her maternal ancestors, the Claypooles, came to this country with William Penn, and were among the earliest settlers in Philadelphia. They claimed direct descent from Oliver Cromwell, whose daughter Elizabeth married Sir John Claypoole.

James Peale had great celebrity as a painter, and excelled both in miniatures and oil portraits. He was not only remarkable for success in his likenesses, but had the faculty of making them handsome withal, so that he was called among his acquaintances “the flattering artist.” This pleasing effect he gave, not by altering the features, but by happy touches of expression; and it was one secret of his eminent success. He painted, from actual sittings, several portraits of General Washington and Mrs. Washington. One, a miniature, is now in the possession of his eldest daughter.

On one occasion, when Washington was sitting for his portrait in Mr. Peale’s painting-room, he looked at his watch, and said,

“Mr. Peale, my time for sitting has expired; but, if three minutes longer will be of any importance to you, I will remain, and make up the time by hastening my walk up to the State House (where Congress was in session). I know exactly how long it will take me to walk there; and it will not do for me, as President, to be absent at the hour of meeting.”

Mrs. Washington was as remarkable for punctuality as her illustrious husband. At one time, during the general’s absence, he wrote to her to get Mr. James Peale to paint her portrait in miniature, and to send it to him. Mrs. Washington wrote a note to the artist, saying that her presence at home was indispensable when the general was away, and it would not be convenient for her to attend at his painting-room. She requested him, therefore, to come to her house for the sittings, and offered to accommodate herself to any hour when it would suit him to be away from his studio. In his reply Mr. Peale appointed seven o’clock in the morning. When he left his home to keep the engagement for the first sitting, it occurred to him that the lady might not be quite ready to see him at so early an hour. He walked on, accordingly, more slowly than usual. Mrs. Washington met him with the observation, “Mr. Peale, I have been in the kitchen to give my orders for the day; have read the newspaper, and heard my niece her lesson on the harp; yet have waited for you twenty minutes.”

The gentleman, of course, felt exceedingly mortified, and remarked that if his engagement had been with General Washington he should have felt the importance of being punctual to the minute; but he thought it necessary to allow a lady a little more time.

“Sir,” replied Mrs. Washington, “I am as punctual as the general.” It may be imagined that Mr. Peale took care to be at the house the next day at the time appointed.

Dunlap, in his sketch of the artist, mentions his son and two daughters as having adopted their father’s profession. There were three daughters who did thus, out of five who showed talent for art, viz., Anna, Sarah, and Margaretta. The son, James Peale, showed, from early youth, a remarkable talent for landscape-painting. His sketches from nature were admirable. For many years, though not a professional artist, he contributed an exquisite picture to every opening of the annual exhibition of the Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia.

Anna was born in Philadelphia, and from childhood showed extraordinary talent for art. When about fourteen years of age, she copied in oil-colors two paintings by Vernet; and these, sent to public auction, brought her thirty dollars, then esteemed a good price for first efforts. Stimulated by this reward of her labor, she resolved to persevere, and in time became able to command an independence. Her father had a large family to support by his profession of portrait and miniature painting, and his daughter looked forward with pleasure to the thought of being a help instead of a burden to him. It was not, however, until two years after that she was able seriously to apply herself to the art. One other attempt only she made in oil-colors; a small fruit-piece, from nature. Her father thought miniature-painting on ivory the most suitable employment for a lady, and urged her to make a trial of her powers in that branch. She had learned much by standing behind his chair, hours and hours at a time, and watching his progress. He took great pains in teaching her, pointing out the peculiar touches that produced his best effects, by giving a charm to the expression.

Not only was Miss Peale assiduous in the study of her father’s exquisite miniatures, but she copied several executed by distinguished artists in that line. One, from a painting by the celebrated Duchésne, a portrait of Napoleon, was sold to a gentleman in Philadelphia for one hundred and fifty dollars. Her ambition to attain to excellence, now fairly kindled, nerved her to industry and enterprise. She painted a miniature of Washington from a portrait, which was purchased of her father by one of his friends and brother officers of the Revolution, Colonel Allen M‘Clain. The first miniature portraits from life which she undertook were those of Dr. Spencer H. Cone and his venerable mother. These, with one or two others, were presented at the annual exhibition of the Academy of the Fine Arts. She and her sister, Miss Sarah M. Peale, were elected honorary members of this institution. This sister had adopted portrait-painting in oil as her profession.

The artistic career thus commenced went on most prosperously. Although she owed nothing to any public notice of her talents, Miss Anna Peale soon found abundant occupation in painting miniature likenesses. Her health, however, suffered under her incessant labors, and she was compelled to put a higher price on her work in order to reduce the number of applications. She was so frequently solicited to paint the likenesses of children, and found them such troublesome subjects, that she charged double price for them.

From the commencement of Miss Peale’s painting to her sister’s entrance on the arena as a portrait-painter, for some years, it is believed, she was the only professional lady artist in Philadelphia. The sisters, after having commenced their labors, passed their time alternately in Philadelphia and Baltimore; in the latter city receiving unbounded attention and encouragement from families of the highest respectability. They were not only well received as artists, but were welcomed as friends and hospitably entertained. They were much caressed by the family of the venerable Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Miss Sarah painted in oil a portrait of his daughter, Mrs. Caten.

The sisters afterward went to Washington to paint the portrait of General La Fayette, who sat for it at their request. Anna spent the winter of 1819 in the Federal city with her uncle, Charles M. Peale, who went there for the purpose of painting the portraits of many distinguished members of Congress. They worked in the same studio. General Jackson was one of their sitters. Miss Peale retained his portrait, and has it still in her possession. President Monroe also had his likeness taken, and the artists were often hospitably entertained at the “White House” by the President and his amiable wife. During the time of her stay in Washington, Miss Peale had her time filled up with commissions; she painted several of the members of Congress, among whom were Henry Clay and Colonel R. M. Johnson.

In the following year Miss Peale again visited Washington. She painted a miniature likeness of that remarkable character, John Randolph of Roanoke. It is now in her possession. So incessant was her application to work, that during the summer she was obliged to travel for the recovery of her health, and to give rest to her eyes. Several times they were attacked with inflammation, and at one time she had cause to dread the total loss of sight. Some time after this period she visited Boston, where she painted several portraits. Daniel Webster sat twice for a miniature, which she never quite finished.

In 1829 Miss Peale received the addresses of Rev. Dr. William Staughton, a Baptist clergyman of much learning and distinction. He was about that time elected president of the Theological College at Georgetown, Kentucky. They were married August 27th, 1829, and left Philadelphia for the scene of the husband’s future labors. While they were in the city of Washington, Dr. Staughton was taken ill. He died early in December, in a little more than three months after the marriage. The widow returned to Philadelphia the following spring. She resumed her profession, and painted with as great success as before.

Her second marriage, with General William Duncan, a gentleman highly esteemed in social life, may be said to have closed her career as an artist, though her love for art can never be lost. In her happy home, surrounded by accomplished relatives, and beloved by a large circle of friends, she looks back with pride to the days when she toiled to woo the Muse of Painting, and still acknowledges the truthful remark of the German poet:

“He who can not apprehend the Beautiful has no heart for the Good.”

The only person to whom Mrs. Duncan ever gave lessons in miniature-painting was her niece, Mary Jane Simes, now the wife of Dr. John Yeates, of Baltimore. This lady is an artist of no small celebrity.

Miss Sarah M. Peale excelled not only in oil portraits but in still-life pieces. She has resided for the last ten years in St. Louis, whither she was induced to go by the invitation of numerous friends. She found there such encouragement and success, with such warm regard from her friends, that she has not as yet found leisure to leave her engrossing pursuits for a visit to her native city. Her varied talents and amiable character are justly appreciated, and she has gathered around her a large and estimable circle. She possesses a fine talent for music in addition to her other accomplishments.

Mrs. Rembrandt Peale is highly spoken of as a painter in oil-colors.

Miss Rosalba Peale is an amateur artist, and is said to have been the first lady member of any Academy of Art in America.

ANN LESLIE.

The name of Leslie has been placed by a painter of eminent merit among the most distinguished of this century, and his sister has contributed to its fame. She was born in Philadelphia; her parents, Robert Leslie and Lydia Baker, went to London in 1793, when she was an infant, and returned in 1799. She showed a taste for painting in childhood, but did not take it up as a regular employment till 1822, at which time she was again in London, on a visit to her brother. She copied several of his pictures, and two or three by Sir Joshua Reynolds, besides painting portraits of her friends. She returned in 1825 to Philadelphia, with her sister, Mrs. Henry Carey, and her brother-in-law, but paid another visit to London four years afterward. Several copies she made from pictures were engraved for the Atlantic Souvenir. One of “Sancho and the Duchess” was pronounced equal to the original in execution. Her skill was great in imitating coloring, but she was accustomed to make the outlines mechanically.

Her life was passed in cheerful and contented activity. She resided several years in New York, where she occupied herself chiefly in copying paintings. She died in the summer of 1857.

Miss Sarah Cole, the sister of the celebrated artist, had a great deal of talent, and not only copied paintings, but produced original compositions. She was born in England, but spent most of her life in the United States. She died in 1858.

MRS. WILSON.

Mrs. Lee mentions Mrs. Wilson of Cincinnati as having displayed much original talent in sculpture. The following account is from a friend’s letter:

“She is the wife of a physician of Cincinnati, and was born, I believe, in or near Cooperstown, New York. Her first impressions of persons and things are expressed in her conversation. She is a perfect child of nature, impulsive, but wonderfully perceptive, and with so much freshness that all persons of mind are attracted to her. Her infancy and youth were very much shadowed by domestic sufferings, originating, at first, in the loss of a large property by her father, who in consequence removed to the West. He died when she was quite young. She married Dr. Wilson, a most excellent person, of Quaker family. All circumstances were such, that an early revelation or development was not made of her artistic powers. In visiting a sculptor’s studio the desire first awoke; an intelligent friend encouraged and sympathized with her, and Mrs. Wilson procured the materials. Her feeling was so intense that it could not be repressed. Her husband was her first subject. She worked with so much energy that sometimes she would faint away, and on one of these occasions he said, ‘If you are not more moderate, I will throw that thing out of the window.’ But it was finished, proving a perfect likeness, and she chiseled it in stone. It is in her parlor at Cincinnati, a most beautiful bust, and an admirable likeness, and seems like a miracle, considering it was her first attempt.

“Another marvelous work is the figure of her son. He threw himself on the floor one morning in an attitude at once striking and picturesque. To copy it required a perfectly correct eye, or a knowledge of anatomy. She courageously attempted it; the attitude was repeated, and her success was triumphant. It is only a cast, and the cast does not do justice to the finish of her work, but she has not been able to procure a block of marble for the copy. The effect is wonderful for its spirit and the accuracy of its anatomy. She has commenced other subjects, but some of them are not finished, and to others accidents have happened.

“She has a family of children, and is a devoted mother. We think stone will have but little chance with those beings of flesh and blood whose minds and hearts she is carefully modeling. Perhaps family cares may be the true secret why female sculptors are so rare; but we congratulate this lady that she has the true perception of the beautiful, and feel quite sure it will mitigate the suffering from delicate health, and scatter fragrant flowers and healing herbs in the sometimes rugged paths of duty.”

A gentleman acquainted with Mrs. Wilson mentioned an incident that occurred on a journey to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. Struck with the aspect of a distinguished person in the company—Mr. Emerson—the sculptress gave directions to stop near a bank of soft red clay, and, putting out one hand to grasp a sufficient portion of the material, with the other she signed to her subject to remain motionless. In a few moments she had modeled a very creditable likeness of the author.

MRS. DUBOIS.

Mrs. Cornelius Dubois, now residing in New York, and devoted to the charitable institution of the Nursery and Child’s Hospital, has shown much talent for sculpture and cameo-cutting. Mrs. Lee describes her as having discovered, accidentally, about 1842, a taste for modeling, in the following manner: “Her father had his bust taken. Before the casting, he asked his daughter her opinion of it as a likeness. She pointed out some defects which the artist corrected in her presence, upon which she exclaimed, ‘I could do that!’ and requested the sculptor to give her some clay, from which she modeled, with but little labor, a bust of her husband, and was eminently successful in the likeness. She then decided to take lessons, but illness having interfered with her plans, she abandoned the intention, and worked on by herself, with merely the instruction from the sculptor to keep her clay moist until her work was completed.

“When she recovered her health sufficiently, she continued to mould, and, among other works, produced the likenesses of two of her little children, the group of Cupid and Psyche, a copy; and a novice, an original piece. She also carved a head of the Madonna in marble; a laborious and exciting work, which injured her health to such a degree that her physician interdicted her devotion to the arts.

“She then went to Italy, where she desired the first artist in cameos to give her lessons. When he saw some that she had cut, he told her that he could teach her nothing; she had only to study the antiques.

“Her works in cameos are ‘St. Agnes and her Lamb,’ ‘Alcibiades,’ ‘Guido’s Angel,’ ‘Raphael’s Hope,’ and the ‘Apollo.’ She took over thirty likenesses in cameo, requiring only an hour’s sitting, after which they were completed.

“Notwithstanding the care of a large family, the superintendence of the education of her daughters, and the sad drawback of ill health, her energy has never failed her. She has always extended a helping hand and a smile of encouragement to young artists, one of whom was in Brown’s studio; another is the sculptor of the ‘Shipwrecked Mother,’ who alludes to her kindness in his short autobiography.

“But, while ascending the ladder to fame, her progress was arrested by ill health, and she now lives only to feel, as she says, how little she has done compared to what she might do could she devote herself to the art. Anxious to impart to others this great gift, and to stimulate her countrywomen to the development of any latent talent they may possess, she formed a class of young ladies, and most disinterestedly devoted a certain portion of her time to their instruction for several months.

“While all who know her admire the artist for her talents, her unceasing energy, and philanthropic exertions, they behold in her the good wife, mother, and friend, and the elegant and accomplished woman, presiding over the social circle. Her heart remains true to the gentle influences of nature, while her genius is ever responsive to immortal Art.”

ANNE HALL.

Anne Hall was born in Pomfret, Connecticut. She was the third daughter of Dr. Jonathan Hall, a physician of distinction. Her talent for art was early developed, and her father, who loved painting, endeavored to foster the promise of her childhood. A visitor having presented her with a box of colors and pencils, she began to use them; and her father, who was pleased with her progress, procured for her a box of colors from China. She had a brother who admired and valued pictures, and whose praise encouraged her to continue her childish attempts. He supplied her with such materials as she needed for drawing and painting. Every hint she received from artists was turned to account, and she gave herself to her favorite occupation with enthusiasm. She delighted in imitating nature; and fruits, birds, flowers, and even fish and insects were subjects for her pencil; but she took especial pleasure in producing likenesses of her friends. Living in a retired part of the country, she had little access to paintings of value for a long time; but, being sent on a visit to a relative in Newport, Rhode Island, she received some instruction in painting on ivory from Mr. Samuel King, who had been an early teacher of Alston, and also of Malbone. Miss Hall gained less knowledge from her master’s lessons, however, than from copying some paintings of the old masters which her brother afterward sent home from Cadiz and other places in Spain. These were faithfully copied on ivory in miniature. “A Mother and a Sleeping Child,” still in her possession, shows her progress at this time. “A Mother in Tears,” copied from a painting on ivory, was much admired as evidence of fidelity in copying and skill in coloring. Studying the pictures procured by her brother, she learned to appreciate their excellences, while, by comparing them with nature, she was enabled to avoid the formality of a mere copyist. She began now to give form and coloring to the conceptions of her imagination, and attempted original composition.

Miss Hall took some lessons in oil-painting from Alexander Robertson in New York, but has chiefly devoted herself to painting in water-colors on ivory. Her merits have been acknowledged by the most distinguished artists in New York and different parts of the United States to be of the highest order. Among her miniature copies of oil pictures by old masters, two from Guido were particularly noticed as executed with surprising vigor and a rich glow of coloring. Her groups of children from life were done with masterly skill, and finished with a taste and delicacy which a woman’s hand only could exhibit. Her portraits in miniature were acknowledged to possess exquisite delicacy and beauty. The soft colors seem breathed on the ivory rather than applied with the brush. A miniature group often sold for five hundred dollars.

Dunlap mentions one of her compositions as “marked with the beautiful simplicity of some of Reynolds’s or Lawrence’s portraits of children, evincing a masterly touch and glowing in admirable coloring.”

Miss Hall was unanimously elected a member of the National Academy of Design in New York. Her portrait of a lovely Greek girl, from life, was engraved, and the rare beauty of the painting was universally acknowledged. The floating silken waves of hair have an unrivaled effect. A group of two girls and a boy is admirable in composition, color, and expression. Miss Hall’s “management of infant beauty” is, indeed, unsurpassed; her flowers and children, Dunlap observes, “combine in an elegant bouquet.”

One of the best of her original compositions is a group of a mother and child—Mrs. Jay and her infant. The first, clasping the babe to her bosom, has a Madonna-like beauty; the child is perfect in attitude and expression. Another group of a mother and two young children, the widow and orphans of the late Matthias Bruen, has a most charming expression. One of the children was painted as a cherub in a separate picture, much valued by artists as a rare specimen of skill. Miss Hall has also painted the portraits in miniature of many persons distinguished in the best social circles of New York. Several of her groups have been copied in enamel in France, and thus made indestructible. Three children of Mrs. Ward, with a dog and bird; a child holding a grape-vine branch; with portraits of Mrs. Crawford, widow of the sculptor, Mrs. Divie Bethune, and the daughters of Governor King, may be mentioned among numerous works, a single one of which has sufficient merit to establish the author’s claim to the reputation she has long enjoyed, of being the best of American miniaturists.

MARY SWINTON LEGARÉ (MRS. BULLEN).

The family of Legaré (once spelled L’Egarée) is of the old stock of French Huguenots who furnished the best blood of Carolina. Madame Legaré, an honored ancestress of our subject, being a firm Huguenot, immediately after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes sent to America her only child, Solomon, then seventeen years old; parting with him, as she believed, forever in this life, that he might be saved from peril, and not be tempted to abandon his faith. This boy—called by his descendants “The Huguenot”—went first to Canada, and in 1685 to Charleston, South Carolina. He became the ancestor of a numerous posterity, of which, during the Revolution, thirteen bearing the name were patriot soldiers, active in the cause of American liberty.

On the death of her husband, Madame Legaré left her native France and came to America. Here she found her son married, and the father of nine children. She had given him up for religion’s sake; God restored him to her arms, able to minister to her declining years. Her grandson, the great-grandfather of Hugh and Mary Legaré, died in 1774, at the age of seventy-nine. Yet, when the Colonies entered into a compact for mutual defense, he resolutely refused to be put on the list of the “aged and noncombatant,” saying he was able to “shoulder his musket with any man,” besides managing a charger equal to any trooper; he “would not be insulted by being laid aside.” Thus our heroine had a great-grandfather and two grandfathers, besides other relatives, in the patriot army of the Revolution, where youths of sixteen and eighteen often fought beside their grandsires.

The father of Miss Legaré married a lady whose grandfather, Alexander Swinton, of a Scottish family, was sent from England, about 1728, as surveyor-general of the province of South Carolina. He lost a large estate by the villainy of executors and guardians; but after his death, Hugh Swinton, his son, was taken to Scotland by his uncle, and educated as became a young gentleman of birth and fortune, being married to a descendant of that John Hayne who fled from the persecution of the Puritans by Charles II. and his bishops, and fixed his home in Carolina. Thus, on both sides, a heritage of honor and religious faith is derived from her ancestors by the lady who fills a place in our humble annals.

The name of Hugh Swinton Legaré is endeared to all South Carolinians, the more so as his genius and literary attainments commanded celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic. His sister’s talents are not inferior to his, though she has filled no place in the national councils nor at foreign courts, but in a quiet and uneventful life has made her impression on the social and intellectual advancement of the day. The youngest of three children who survived the father, she was born in Charleston, South Carolina, where her childhood and youth were spent. Mrs. Legaré, left a widow before she had completed her twenty-eighth year, devoted her time and means entirely to the education of her little ones. She was a woman of extraordinary mental powers, and her mind had been sedulously cultivated. Her ideas of education were broad and comprehensive, and her efforts were directed to the training of her children in such a manner as to make their lives exemplary, useful, and happy, as well as to develop their intellects. How well she succeeded the honorable career of all her children testifies. The noble character and life of her eldest daughter, Mrs. Bryan, and the brilliant fame achieved by the son, add evidence to the fact that she was one of those mothers whose offspring rise up to call her blessed. Mrs. Legaré died on the 1st of January, 1843, in the seventy-second year of her age.

It was not strange that the children should grow up cherishing a deep and intense love for so excellent a mother. Mary, an infant when bereft of her father, very early showed a fondness for study, and a special predilection for the languages and the fine arts. Even before she was able to express emotions of admiration or delight, she evinced a remarkable sensibility both to melody and color. When less than three years old, she would be affected to tears or moved to joyous mirth by different musical sounds. Beautiful pictures had for her young fancy irresistible fascination at an age when she could hardly be supposed able to recognize the objects they represented. Her mother frequently observed of her little Mary that, when she showed signs of impatience or weariness, or fretted for want of amusement, all that was necessary to soothe her discontent or charm her into happiness was to furnish her with paper and a pencil. The child would amuse herself for hours with her drawings. Her decided talents for music and painting—coloring in particular—were soon perceived by this tender mother, who determined to give her daughter every possible aid in the cultivation of tastes so congenial to her own, Mrs. Legaré being herself accomplished in no ordinary degree in both these lady-like pursuits.

Miss Legaré had resolved to make herself mistress of the languages even before she could read and write English with any great proficiency. She had in these studies, and other branches of scholarship, the best teachers that could be procured. Her mother was her first instructor in music. But it was otherwise in the art to which she had determined especially to devote herself; no efficient teacher of drawing could be found. Although remuneration for lessons was liberal—thirty dollars per term being paid—it was almost impossible to find any one capable of giving proper instruction. The young girl was therefore obliged to practice unaided the art she began to love with increased enthusiasm, and her progress was still more retarded by the want of models or scenes in nature that might take her fancy. The low country of South Carolina—affording the only landscapes she had ever seen—abounds in flat and swampy districts. There is much beauty for an unaccustomed eye in the bleached wilderness of pine-land, with its stately, solemn groves, through which the wind surges with ocean-like murmur; but it is not of the kind available for the artist. Nor is that of the swamp, with its immeasurable extent of wood and impenetrable undergrowth, through which may be seen at intervals the dark, turbid water soaking its way through masses of tangled weeds, the slimy abode of reptiles, or the hiding-place of the water-fowl. There are green morasses choked with vegetation, into which the sunbeams never penetrate; or over the quagmire, rank with decay, rise giant trees, twined with thick creepers, and burying the matted brush beneath them in black shadow. The trees are often loaded with the gray hanging moss that forms the ornament of woods in the low lands. The mixture of gloom and beauty, of luxuriance and horror, is a striking novelty to the Northern visitor. The ragged thickets, too, are alternated with islands of lovely verdure; the water-lily decks the dark lakelet with its broad leaves and white flowers; and graceful vines festoon the evergreens, mingling bright blossoms with their leaves of sombre verdure.

Such scenes presented little to tempt the copyist, yet, notwithstanding her difficulties and discouragements in painting, Miss Legaré continued to struggle on toward the idea of perfection in her untutored imagination. Her brother Hugh was wont to remark that “her passion lay there,” in the painter’s art. She found not much sympathy in this chosen pursuit, till some time in the year 1827, when she became acquainted with a gentleman who possessed a similar taste, cultivated in a high degree by superior knowledge of art. This was Colonel John S. Cogdell, who at that time had considerable celebrity as an amateur painter. Miss Legaré submitted her efforts to his careful criticism, and received from him the instruction she needed. She has attributed her subsequent success to his aid. He procured for her study the finest new pictures that could be obtained. Among the artists whose works were now introduced to her, Doughty became, to her fancy, the beau ideal of excellence. Even when a child she had been accustomed to turn away in disgust, with a “’Tis not pretty, mamma,” from flaring or exaggerated colors in a picture. Doughty’s subdued coloring, and soft, dreamy style, kindled her imagination, and aroused her ardent emulation. “Could I but paint one picture like Doughty’s!” she would often exclaim; and it may be said her earliest initiation into the school of Nature, and into an apprehension of her seductive beauties, was by seeing the works of this eminent American landscape-painter, whom his country allowed to languish in bitter penury, for want of the appreciation his genius should have commanded. Miss Legaré’s first attempt to copy one of his paintings succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations of herself and her friends. Colonel Cogdell encouraged her still more by saying, “You have an eye for color, which must insure you success in copying nature.”

In truth, the young artist did not long remain satisfied with spending all her energies merely in copying the works of others. Though she had never visited any other region than the low forest country of her native state, she endeavored to create scenes by combining various objects into a single composition. Landscapes and rustic scenes in every variety were her delight; yet, having never seen a mountain, nor the country in any aspects different from the monotonous views in her neighborhood, how was she to produce an original picture? How do justice in any way to the powers of which she felt conscious? It was not so easy for a lady to travel. In the South particularly, she would be hampered in many ways; and “Mrs. Grundy” would have devoted to death by torture any young girl who could have done so heinous a thing as take a journey of observation by herself! Miss Legaré, therefore, was shut in to contemplation of the boundless ocean and the swamp forest almost as limitless. Dark scenes and deep shadows, with warm glowing skies became features in her paintings, and her trees of great variety, clear, deep water, and skies were pronounced by critics superior to those of the artists she most admired. She adopted in a measure the style of Ruysdael, mingled, in the more delicate shades, with the warmth of Cuyp.

In the summer of 1833 her longing wish was gratified. She went, accompanied by her mother, to spend the warm season amid the glorious mountain scenery of the Blue Ridge in North Carolina. This region has been thought to surpass in magnificence and majesty any mountainous district in the Atlantic States. Miss Legaré was far more delighted with these mountains than with the scenery of Lake George and the Hudson, which she had visited the year before, finding it, as well as the Alleghany range, to disappoint her expectations. But when, on her approach to Asheville, her eyes rested on the exhaustless variety of form and tint, blended into soft harmony, on the distant Blue Ridge, the beauty and sublimity of the scene filled her with emotions she had no language to express. There was awful grandeur as well as touching loveliness in the view. Pisgah and surrounding peaks towering skyward—the summit covered with vapor that glowed with gorgeous colors, like a drapery of scarlet and gold—the vast mass played on by the mellow purple and violet tints peculiar to lofty mountains—the delicate azure mingling with fairy lights of golden violet—all softened into harmony by an atmosphere so transparent, so Claude-like in its purity, that it seemed the movement of a bird could be discerned at a distance of forty or fifty miles! Miss Legaré here realized, for the first time, what few out of Italy can realize, the naturalness of Claude’s landscapes; the exquisite art of his unequaled coloring, which gives to his delineations of Alpine scenery so wonderful an effect.

Miss Legaré’s intense enjoyment of the beauties of nature in this favored region during a three months’ residence gave her an invincible repugnance to the work of copying the productions of any human artist. She always painted in oil; and, having brought no materials with her, could not transfer to her sketches the colors she so admired while on the spot. But memory had faithfully treasured these delicious pictures, and on her return to Charleston she lost no time in putting them on canvas. “A View on the Suwannee,” now in possession of the widow of Colonel Cogdell, was pronounced by him a master-piece. Another view on the French Broad, illustrating the distinguishing characteristics of the scenery of that river, was purchased in 1834 by the proprietors of the Art Union in New York. The first scene that had so struck Miss Legaré was painted on too large a scale. It was, however, much admired; and the same subject, represented in smaller compass, is esteemed a finer picture.

In Miss Legaré’s landscapes she gives to her coloring and combinations as much idealizing as truth to nature will admit. An artist, who was delighted both with her music and her painting, observed of the latter to her brother Hugh, “It is natural, but more beautiful than nature; it is poetical.” Another, when Hugh remarked that she must go to Italy, replied, “No, your sister studies our own wild nature—rich, romantic, glowing under a tropical sun, luxuriant when touched with frost; if she go to Italy, or study the old landscape-painters, she may give a finer finish, but it will be artificial.” These artistic criticisms gave her encouragement; and when she repeated to Mr. Cogdell what was said in praise of her works, he would say, triumphantly, “I told you so, but you would not believe me!”

Her rich foregrounds, transparent water, and distant mountains, as well as her skies and foliage, have been highly praised by Sully and other eminent artists. She owed to Mr. Cogdell her introduction to the science of perspective, having been accustomed in early efforts to be guided by the eye alone. A knowledge of anatomy was of use, as she always introduced figures into her landscapes, painted with fidelity and spirit. She excels, besides, in the delineation of animals, wild and domestic, especially dogs, cows, and sheep. A Spanish pointer, painted nearly of life size, was so perfect in anatomy that Dr. Sewell of Washington pronounced it a study for a student of that branch. “The Hounds of St. Bernard” is an admirable painting. The piteous, appealing expression in the face of one that is represented howling for aid struck even every child who saw it. A little girl exclaimed, “How sorry that dog is! he is afraid the people won’t come.”

Besides animals, Miss Legaré has painted portraits; but this branch never enlisted her enthusiasm—that was for landscapes.

On the appointment of her brother as a member of President Tyler’s cabinet in 1841, Miss Legaré accompanied him to Washington. Her life of calm enjoyment was soon disturbed by sorrow. She was bereaved of mother, sister, and brother within the space of a year. She had long cherished a purpose of visiting the Western country, and in June, 1849, went to Iowa. Finding the country very productive and well suited to farming purposes, she sent for some of the children of her deceased sister. They came with their families to the new home, and formed a colony of twenty-one persons. The scenery in Iowa, though often beautiful, is tame compared to the mountainous country of the Atlantic states. Green fields, luxuriant woods, flower-bordered streams, and groves carpeted with wild grass, forming a charming variety of landscape, are presented; but there are few scenes that startle with their magnificence or grandeur. Miss Legaré found, in the new cares that surrounded her, and the habits of life so different from those to which she had been accustomed, such a pressure of occupation, that her beloved art was for a time abandoned. The Western housekeeper usually finds little time for the pleasures of the imagination; but she was not one to forget the best interests of others, particularly of her own sex. She established an institution called “Legaré College,” for the liberal education of women, at West Point, in Lee County, Iowa. Her talents and taste, her varied and uncommon learning and energy, as well as her means, were devoted to the support of this institution; but its aim was too far in advance of the age in Iowa, or, rather, its operations were impeded by that utilitarian spirit which has set its heavy, ungainly foot on every high aspiration in this country, and has prevented the progress of woman toward improvement that might enlarge her sphere of usefulness.

A writer who is intimately acquainted with Miss Legaré—now Mrs. Bullen—thus speaks of her accomplishments:

“The literature of the world, its science and its art, are with her as household things. They flow from her eloquent tongue as music from the harp of the minstrel. No pent-up Utica confines her powers—no Aztec theory of woman cripples her labors, or impoverishes her mind or her policy. A Mississippi feeling, and theory, and action actuate her, and we may all look for corresponding results.” Her influence in the community where she resides has directed attention to both art and literature.

Mrs. Bullen intends resuming the pencil she has for years almost entirely laid aside. She has completed a design for a painting to be called “The Squatter’s Home.” It shows a wagon under the shade of a Western group of tall trees, which serves for the sleeping-place of the emigrant family. The mother is washing beside a stream; the children are gathering strawberries.

HERMINIE DASSEL.

Mrs. Dassel was a native of Königsberg, Prussia. Her father’s name was Borchard; he was a banker, and at one time a man of fortune, which enabled him to secure to his children an excellent education. He lost his property in 1839, in consequence of financial troubles in America; the liquidation of his affairs reduced his possessions to a small farm, depriving his family of teachers, servants, horses and carriages, and all the comforts which they had enjoyed. Upon the elder children devolved the duties of housekeeping, and the cultivation of the farm to some extent, as well as the instruction of the younger members of the family. At this time Herminie devoted herself to the art of painting as a profession, hoping to derive from it a support for herself and family. She would attend to her household duties in the morning, and then, with port-folio in hand, wander off over the dusty or muddy road to the city, and again return to attend to the flowers and cabbages, and the making of cheese and butter. She soon had the satisfaction of receiving a commission for a full-sized portrait of a clergyman; this she painted in the church, with her model on the altar, the country folk standing about, astonished and wondering that such a tiny little girl could accomplish such a marvel.

She soon went to Düsseldorf, attracted thither by the pictures of Sohn, which she saw in an exhibition in her native city. She studied with this artist four years, supporting herself entirely by her own exertions. Her pictures found ready sale, consisting of such subjects as “Children in the Wood,” “Peasant Girls in a Vineyard,” “Children going to the Pasture with Goats,” etc.

After her return home she applied herself again to portrait-painting, in order to obtain money sufficient for a tour to Italy, which was the great end of her ambition. She was fortunate enough to be able to accumulate in one year a thousand dollars. Out of this sum she furnished her brother with an amount large enough to secure his promotion to a doctor’s degree, as she wanted to have him accompany her as a traveling companion.

A journey to Italy was much opposed by all her relatives; a girl so young, fresh, and diminutive could not protect herself; she would inevitably encounter serious misfortunes. But her mind was made up; she packed her things, took leave of her friends, and one morning started off on the way to Vienna, directing her brother to follow her. She was never in want of friends; every where persons took an interest in her; without money one day, it was sure to come on the next; and her faith was never shaken by any accident or hardship. In Vienna she began her studies, seeking models in the streets, and taking them to her room. From Vienna she passed into Italy. Of her studious life in Italy many sketches bear witness.

The breaking out of the revolution in 1848 obliged Herminie to leave Italy, and as the route to Germany was unsafe, and she feared becoming a burden to her friends, she resolved to go to the United States. An opportunity presented itself to travel in company with a family in whose house she lived after her brother had been called home by the government. She rolled up her sketches, put them in a tin box, and repaired to Leghorn. When about to pay her passage, the draft she presented was refused. She sat weeping over the disappointment, with letters before her from friends in Rome and Germany, imploring her to abandon this suicidal plan of emigration; representing strongly the dangers of the journey, the hardships she would encounter in a foreign land, without money and without friends. She came down to supper. A traveler just arrived, observing her eyes red with weeping, was led to show an interest in her; she related her troubles, upon which the stranger examined the draft, and, finding it good, gave her the cash for it. This gentleman was an Italian, and she continued in correspondence with him. The next day she was on board a vessel bound for this country.

She arrived in February, 1849. The only letter of introduction she brought was to Mr. Hagedorn, of Philadelphia, in whom she subsequently found a friend and protector. She landed in New York, and at once began to paint. Her first pictures, representations of Italian life, exhibited in the Art Union, were much admired, and some of them were purchased by that institution. She found no difficulty in making friends.

Five months after her arrival she married Mr. Dassel. After her marriage she led a happy life, with cares and sorrows incidental to the care of a family, and to an arduous profession. She triumphed over all, however, and realized all the comforts which belong to success.

Mrs. Dassel was most successful in portraits in oil of children and pastel-portraits. Her painting of “Effie Deans” attracted much attention. Her latest works are copies of Steinbruck’s “Fairies” and the “Othello” in the Düsseldorf Gallery, which are unusually successful works of this class. She made steady progress in her art, and would have doubtless attained a prominent position had she lived to develop her powers by practice and study.

We should not be doing justice to this noble woman not to allude to the social virtues which endeared her to so many friends. With nothing to rely upon but her own exertions, with serious illness in her family, she was never so poor in time or money as not to interest herself in behalf of others more unfortunate than herself. Countless instances are known of her serviceable kind-heartedness. She exerted herself at the time of the dreadful shipwreck of the Helena Sloman, and obtained by personal efforts, in a few days, the sum of seven hundred dollars; and her ministrations among the poor were constant during the severe winter of 1853. She has, it is true, many peers in similar acts of benevolence, but few who practiced deeds of this kind in a position so little calculated to develop them.

Mrs. Dassel died on the 7th December, 1857, and was buried in Greenwood.

Jane Stuart was the youngest child of Gilbert Stuart, the eminent portrait-painter. Like many of her sisters in art, she inherited the genius she discovered in early life; but it was not till after her father’s death that the talent she had shown found development in the practice of art. She has resided for a long time at Newport, Rhode Island, in the enjoyment of the celebrity her talents have acquired.

Mrs. Hildreth of Boston deserves mention, especially for her portraits of children in crayon. Miss May painted landscapes in Allston’s style. Mrs. Orvis has been mentioned as a flower-painter of remarkable skill. Hoyt remarked that he knew nothing better in coloring than her autumn leaves and wild flowers. In this style, Mrs. Badger, of New York, has acquired reputation by her book of “The Wild Flowers of America,” published in 1859. The drawings were all made and colored from nature by herself.

Mrs. Hawthorne of Boston has painted many beautiful pieces. An “Edymion,” which was greatly admired, she presented to Mr. Emerson. She also modeled the head of Laura Bridgman. Mrs. Hill is a highly-successful miniature-painter.

Mrs. Greatorex is a landscape-painter of merit, and is rapidly acquiring distinction. She has a deep love of wild mountain and lake scenery, dark woods, and rushing waters; and her productions are marked by the vigor of tone and dashing, impetuous freedom of touch especially adapted to that kind of subjects. This felicitous boldness she has in a remarkable degree, and her works are marked by truthfulness as well as strength. She has painted many pieces of romantic scenery in Scotland and Ireland. Her amiable character, her ready sympathy and benevolence, have interested many friends in her success.

Mrs. George Woodman, the eldest daughter of Mr. Durand, has painted some excellent landscapes; also Mrs. Ruggles. Miss Gove’s crayon heads have been much noticed and admired. Miss Caroline May’s landscapes have proved her claim to the double wreath of artist and authoress. Miss Granbury’s flowers have attracted attention in the Academy exhibitions. Some pretty interior scenes were in the exhibition of 1859, painted by Miss Juliana Oakley. It is necessary to omit many names of artists who have not yet had experience enough to constrain public acknowledgment of the genius they possess.