Women artists in all ages and countriesEllet, E. F. (Elizabeth Fries)
History
Women artists in all ages and countries
Ellet, E. F. (Elizabeth Fries)
Women artists
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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