[Illustration: A DUTCH PEASANT WOMAN. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Madame Suse Bisschop-Robertson, Painter Holland] [Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY "THE LAST MOVE." REPRODUCED FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING BY PERMISSION OF MESSRS. BRAUN, CLÉMENT & CO., PARIS, OWNERS OF THE COPYRIGHT Madame Henriette Ronner, Painter] [Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY NEW TENANTS--NOUVEAUX LOCATAIRES. AFTER THE ORIGINAL PICTURE, FROM A CARBON PRINT BY BRAUN, CLÉMENT & CO., PARIS, OWNERS OF THE COPYRIGHT Madame Henriette Ronner, Painter] [Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF A HERON. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Mlle. Georgette Meunier, Painter] [Illustration: THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. AFTER MATTEO DI GIOVANNI DA SIENA Madame Marie Destrée-Danse, Etcher] [Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY A SUNSET IN THE CAMPINE. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION FROM AN ETCHING AFTER THE PAINTING BY JOSEPH COOSEMANS IN THE BRUSSELS MUSEUM Mademoiselle E. Wesmael, Etcher] [Illustration: FLEMISH SCHOOL, CONTEMPORARY LILIES IN THE COURTYARD OF A HOUSE OF REST AT BRUGES. AFTER A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL PAINTING Madame Juliette Wytsman, Painter] In Germany and Austria, in Russia, Switzerland and Spain By Wilhelm Schölermann. Translated into English by Wilfrid Sparroy When we look into the past history of the present subject, the first German name we come upon is that of the Nun of Nuremberg, Sister Margareta, who worked from 1459 to 1470, and who copied many religious works. A century later, at Udina, in Italy, Irene von Spilimberg was born, descending from a noble German family; and although Irene died at the age of nineteen, she yet lived long enough to win the hearty admiration of her great master, Titian. As a picture by Irene von Spilimberg could not be obtained for this book, the editor has begun the German section with Anna Maria Schurman and with Maria Sibylla Merian. The first was a clever painter-etcher as well as the most learned lady of her time; the second was the daughter of Matthew Merian, and the exquisite studies she made, in water-colour, of insects and of plants and flowers, have never been excelled in their own line.