December 2021 – my daily art display

Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé

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When my featured artist today had an exhibition of his work in London, the London Times summed up his works by saying “it must be seen to be believed”. In America the art critics designated him as “the magician of light”. His paintings are extraordinary. They are magnificent. Let me introduce you to the Russian landscape and staunch realist painter, Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé.

Sevanavank Monastery on Lake Sevan by Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé

Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé was born in St. Petersburg on October 21^st 1874. His ancestors hailed from Germany but emigrated to Russia in the eighteenth century. The original spelling of his family name, which was of German origin, was Schultze. His story was not one of a child dreaming of becoming a professional artist. His fascination at an early age was electricity and its production through hydro power especially the electricity generated by the Imatra waterfall in South Karelia. His interest in science was sated by an engineering education, although he continued to convey his creative side and during those early days as a teenager, he would spend his spare time painting small sketches. He headed up an engineering project in Finland but something went badly wrong and he lost all his money and was declared bankrupt.

Winter Sunset by Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé

Ivan realised he had to earn money from another source and decided to concentrate on his drawing and painting abilities. Along with his early paintings which he had fortunately not discarded, he approached the academician, famous landscape painter and drawing teacher, Konstantin Yakovlevich Kryzhitsky, who had been a court painter to Tsar Nicholas II and was a painter of miniatures. His talent was apparent to Kryzhitsky and he enabled Ivan to be admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. In addition to Kryzhitsky, Choultsé was influenced by other tutors, the Russian landscape artist Arkhip Kuindzhi and the Swiss landscape painter Alexander Kalam. In 1903 Choultsé held his first Academy exhibition which gained him early fame and recognition as a talented artist. His exhibition was a great success and he went on to exhibit his work at other major galleries in St. Petersburg and Moscow. He was eventually elected as a court painter to Tsar Nicholas II.

See the source image

Park in Neskuchnoye by Ivan Choultse

In 1910 Choultsé embarked on an Arctic painting trip with Kryzhitsky. They visited the north of Norway and island of Spitzbergen. From that trip Choultsé produced a number of glorious paintings of the arctic landscape. In 1910 and 1911 Choultsé lost two of his most influential mentors, Kuindzhi in July 1910 and fifty-two year old Kryzhitsky who committed suicide in April 1911. Following the untimely death of Konstantin Kryzhitsky, Choultsé had his works shown at exhibitions which had been arranged by the society created by Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, also a student of Konstantin Kryzhitsly, in his name. Choultsé frequently participated in its exhibitions that took place in the Grand Duchess’ palace on Sergeevskaya street in St Petersburg.

Silver Frost, Engadine, 1910 by Ivan Fedorovich Choultse

Silver Frost, Engadine, by Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé

Cholutsé reputation as a painter grew as did the sale of his work which was confirmed by the fact that the brother of Tsar Nicholas II, Mikhail Alexandrovich, regularly commissioned his works. In 1917 the Russian Revolution took place and for Choultsé he had to make an important decision. He was an academic painter and a supporter of the Academy system which meant staying in Russia under the new regime which was probably fraught with difficulty and so in 1917 he set off on a two-year trip of Europe. For those two years Choultsé was able to see and depict on canvas the beautiful landscapes of the mountainous regions of Northern Italy, Switzerland and Southern France where he painted the Mediterranean landscapes.

Ivan Fedorovich Choultse view of Engadine

Vers Le Soir, Engadine’ by Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé

It could well have been the snowy Swiss landscape that brought back memories of his homeland or it could have been because he was mesmerised by the panoramic views of the likes of the long high Alpine valley region of Engadine and St. Moritz, but whatever it was, it profoundly affected Choultsé.

See the source image — *November by Ivan Choultsé*

Choultsé finally settled back in Russia in 1921 as he still held out hope that he could remain a professional artist in his homeland under the new Soviet regime. He joined the Society of Individualist Artists in St. Petersburg and took part in the society’s first two exhibitions that year. After a while he lost hope that everything would be the same as it was in the pre-Revolution days and finally took the decision to leave his country of birth and go to Paris. He settled in the French capital in an apartment on the Boulevard Pereire, close to the Porte Maillot and it was here that the second stage of his career as a Russian immigrant began.

Choultsé artistic breakthrough in Paris came with his first solo exhibition of his work on November 23rd 1922, at the Galleries Gérard Frères. All fifty of his works were sold on the opening day of the show. This was extraordinary as the artistic environment of Paris was one of an over-abundance with all sorts of artistic offerings and gallery presentations. However, his success was indicative of the artist’s amazing talent. He became inundated with painting commissions and often did not have enough time to fulfil all the assignments.

There is no doubt that Choultsé was influenced by the the snowy Swiss landscape which probably reminded him of his native Russia. He said that he had fallen in love with the immense vistas of Engadine and St. Moritz. He was deeply moved by what he saw there and would concentrate on studying the effects of light on nature and by doing this created his best-known themes of beautiful snow-filled landscapes. In 1923, Ivan Fedorovich’s Choultsé’s paintings were exhibited in the Paris Spring Salon. His works were an amazing success with the public and the art critics alike and he was touted as the most admired artists of the Salon. With all success, there is an element of luck and Choultsé’s good fortune emanated from having contacts with good art dealers and owners of art galleries. He was represented by the gallery of Leon Gerard, which not only successfully sold his works of art but also regularly arranged his personal exhibitions. In 1927, Choultsé received his French citizenship.

Success in Europe was soon followed by success in America. In 1928, Choultsé met Eduard Jonas, who took most of Choultsé’s works to America. Jonas was a prominent figure in French and international art market, owner of exhibition halls and galleries both in Paris and New York, and also offered an exclusive plan of exposing Choultsé’s works in the States. Choultsé was delighted with the opening up of the American market. In a letter to his daughter, he wrote:

“…”I met a very interesting dealer. And how good it is that now, sitting in Paris, I can sell my work for dollars!…”

A contemporary of Choultsé, the Russian writer and critic, Nikolai Breshko-Breshkovsky wrote about the artist’s newly found fame and fortune in America:

“…In America, Choultsé’s snow and sun paintings are highly esteemed and worth of great price…”.

*La Corniche (Côte d’Azur) by Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé*

Although based in Paris, Choultsé regularly travelled to the Mediterranean and enjoyed painting many summer landscapes around the Côte d’Azur .

He also completed many paintings depicting scenes around the Italian coast.

In 1933 Choultsé moved his permanent residence to Nice. One of the last exhibitions of his work was in March 1936 held at the Breton Castle on rue Saint Antoine in Nice. Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé died in 1939, aged 64 and was buried in the Cimetière Caucade in Nice,

*Quiet Mediterranean Evening by Ivan Choultsé*

The Toronto dealer, G.Blair Laing, wrote in his 1979 book, Memoirs of an Art Dealer that Choultsé “painted spectacular snow scenes in which light seems to come from behind the canvas and glow”

In 1935 the New York Hammer Galleries held a jubilee exhibition entitled ‘150 Years of Russian Painting’ and described Choultsé’s reputation as “beloved among American collectors as a great master of snowy landscapes gilded by slanted sunbeams”.

For all my readers who celebrate this festive period may I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Jean-Eugène Buland

Jean-Eugene Buland photo.jpg — *Jean-Eugène Buland*

Jean-Eugène Buland was born in the French capital on October 26^th 1852. He was the son of an engraver, as was his younger brother, Jean-Émile Buland. Jean-Eugène’s artistic career began when he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel. Cabanal was a renowned French artist who painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style and was also well known as a portrait painter. He had been a professor at the art establishment since 1864 and was highly regarded by Emperor Napoleon III. There can be no doubt that Buland was influenced by Cabanel’s choice of subjects for his paintings and his academic painting style. Success came early on for Buland when he gained the Deuxième Prix de Rome in 1878 and once again in 1879. The Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them to stay at the Villa Medicis in Rome for three to five years funded by the French government.

On his return to France Buland soon became aware of the popularity of the French painter, Jules Bastien-Lepage, and his success with his Naturalist paintings depicting realistic themes so much so, he decided to forego his depictions of historical works and concentrate on scenes of everyday life. Bastien-Lepage, like Buland, was also awarded the Deuxième Prix de Rome in 1875 and 1876 but declined the opportunity to study in Rome as the classical training held no interest for him although winning the prize had been a great honour. Buland joined the Naturalist painting movement with Bastien-Lepage and found that by utilising photography it allowed him to paint his models with the most precision.

*Alms of a Beggar* *by Jean-Eugène Buland (1880)*

In 1880 he completed one of his best loved works, Alms of a Beggar, in which we see a young woman beautifully dressed in white sitting outside a church in search of charity. From her left, we see a man, who is a beggar himself, coming towards her with a coin held out in his right hand. His clothes are a mass of patches, and they are pale and dirty. On his feet he wears scruffy old wooden shoes. From his demeanour he would appear sightless. It is a fascinating depiction that raises all manner of questions. Why is the well-dressed woman begging? Is she as poor as the man in the depiction or is Buland telling us that you do not have to be badly dressed to be poor? Is there such a thing as inward poverty – a poverty that has nothing to do with lack of money? Look at the painting and make your own mind up.

Three years later, in 1883, Buland completed a painting entitled Le Tripot which is a French word meaning gambling house or gambling den. This work by Buland is one of his masterpieces. The setting is a sleazy back-street gambling den and depicts five unsentimental-looking gamblers facing us whilst sitting at a gaming table. The air is thick with cigarette and cigar smoke, the walls of the establishment are in need of redecoration.

To the left we see an elderly woman, probably a widow, diminutive in stature, dressed all in black. She pushes some paper money towards the pot. Looking over her shoulder is a middle-aged man. Is he just a merely a passing observer or is there more to his presence?

Next to the old woman is a man showing an air of confidence as to his ability as a gambler and yet the pile of winnings in front of him is small. He is slightly laid back and seems to be worry-free. With cigarette in hand he glances to his right.

By far the most interesting person in this group portrait is one at the centre. An elderly man gazes out at us with an almost blank look as if he is not registering what he is seeing. He is completely lost in his own thoughts. Why did Buland depict him as almost having no part in what is happening around him ?

Is he just another gambler or is he the croupier as we see his wooden rake which is used to collect money from the gaming table at his side and a large pool of money which could be the “bank”.

The remaining gamblers are to the right of the painting. The man with the long hair and ringlets would appear to be of Jewish origin akin to the likes of Fagan and Shylock and in a way this depiction has a sort of anti-Semitic tone to it. Before him, we see that he has accrued a large amount of winnings, which could have been Buland’s thoughts on the reputation of the Jewish people’s love of money. In contrast, next to him, on his left, is a young man who looks totally bemused and is certainly down on his luck. From his bored facial expression we can see he is completely resigned to losing the last of his money. Behind the pair we see a couple ladies of the night who are looking to see who is winning and thus who is worth approaching for their services.

The question as to why has Buland chosen these five main characters, four of whom are definititely gambling is questionable. Is he trying to put across his belief that all types of people fall into the clutches of gambling? The run-down setting maybe his way of not glorifying the “sport” of gambling.

If you wanted to have an artistic depiction of tenderness and young love Buland’s 1903 offering of Bonheur des parents probably could not be topped. The painting’s title translates to Parental Happiness and it depicts a young man and his young wife with their newly born baby. The setting is a small room of a stone-built cottage. It is a new experience for the couple and we can see the woman looking down at her baby as it breast-feeds. You can see the utter tiredness in the eyes of the young mother and the nervousness in the father’s expression. It is all new to them and they are having to survive alone with the nurturing of their child. They have been given a precious gift.

Another depiction of young love was his 1884 painting entitled Mariage innocent. It is an idyllic portrayal of young happiness with its young couple walking arm in arm through fields against a backdrop of a village and blossoming flowers in the foreground.

*La Lecture by Jean-Eugène Buland* *(1901)*

In 1886, Buland left Paris to settle in Charly-sur-Marne, a little village just east of the capital, in the French department of Aisne, near Château-Thierry, shunning the art scene of the French capital. From this quiet village life Buland derived inspiration from simple everyday life, which he painted with the greatest fastidiousness. His works gained popularity and he obtained many commissions including ones from a number of art institutions, such as the Luxembourg Museum in Paris and many other provincial museums. During these early years he submitted many of his works for the Salon des Sciences in the Paris’ City Hall and some were used to decorate the ceiling of the City Hall of Château-Thierry. His painstaking realist depictions were well-received at the Salon, where he won a number of medals. He gained a third-class medal at the Universal Exhibition in Barcelona in 1888. In the following year he was awarded a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris and was also awarded during the International Exhibition in London in 1890. The ultimate honour came in 1894 when he received the Legion of Honour.

*Un Patron or The Lesson of the Apprentice by Jean-Eugène Buland (1888)*

In France during the start of industrialization realist painters were often given official assignments from the state to depict themes from the new and progressive metal industry. In his 1888 painting, entitled Un Patron, sometimes referred to as The Lesson of the Apprentice, Buland used photographs as a basis for the work catching all the details of what was a combination of a smithy and a mechanical workshop. In the painting we see the head mechanic is using a drill while working on a cogwheel. The painting depiction had a political propaganda aspect to it. France had suffered after a heavy and costly defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the country was now striving to recover through its advances in its industry and manufacturing and the depiction of the young apprentice learning a trade in engineering highlighted the country’s determination to become an industrial powerhouse.

bulandtinker — The Tinker by Jean-Eugène Buland (1908)

The term ethnography is the scientific description of peoples and cultures with their customs, habits, and mutual differences. Eugène Buland was a meticulous painter who never overlooked any details with regards to the figures populating his paintings. He spent a great deal of time depicting their appearance and their costumes and an equal amount of time was spent on the details of the inanimate objects that completed the works. Through his painstaking way in which he used light and shadow on his figures and on the settings, Buland paintings became true works of art. His paintings are like an everyday chronicle of life combining portraiture with genre scenes. One good example of this is his 1908 painting entitled The Tinker. We see the man busy at work, repairing damaged pots, pans, and domestic metal objects. Look at the varying textures of these objects. Look closely at the wall of the room and see how Buland, with touches of white has a glistening effect which highlights the dampness on the stone wall.

bulandpropaganda — Propaganda Campaign by Jean-Eugène Buland (1889)

I like two of Buland’s works which have a political overtone to them. In 1889 he painted Propaganda Campaign in which we see a travelling salesman has arrived at the home of a poor family and he is trying to offload books and coloured prints to the head of the household. However, he was not just a salesman as he combined his sales pitch with his political thoughts. In the salesman’s left hand he holds a poster of General Boulanger, a French general and politician who was an enormously popular public figure during the 1880’s and the buttonhole rosette in the salesman’s jacket lapel identifies him as a canvasser for the General.

bulandmunicipalcouncil — *Municipal Council and Commission of Pierrelaye Organizing a Festival by Jean-Eugène Buland (1891)*

The other political painting by Buland which I like is his provincial municipal depiction of a group of local councilors. The 1891 work is entitled Municipal Council and Commission of Pierrelaye Organizing a Festival. Pierrelaye is a commune in the Val-d’Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is almost certainly a painting commissioned by the very councilors who are depicted in the work. They all exude an aura of importance and solemnity. For those who would look at this group portrait by Buland there would be no doubt that the councilors would be worth every penny of their wages !!!!

*Ouvriers Se Chauffant (Workers Warming Themselves) by Jean-Eugène Buland (1906)*

My final choice of Buland’s paintings is a dark and somewhat brooding study of two workmen sitting on a large log, who are trying to fight off the cold by warming themselves in front of a brazier. Maybe they are woodsmen who have just come inside the hut for a rest having been working outside in the cold. The room is dark and dank and the two figures are just about lit up by a thin beam of daylight penetrating a small window high up in the wall.

Jean-Eugène Buland died on March 18th 1926, aged 73.

Anna Massey Lea Merritt

Sometimes when I am searching for a new artist to write about, I come across a painting which just sticks in the mind and I know I have to learn more about the painter who has delivered such a beautiful depiction. This blog is a prime example of this modus operandi.

*Right Reverend Talbot by Anna Lea Merritt (1899)*

Today I am looking at the life and times of the American painter, Anna Massey Lea Merritt who spent most of her life painting whilst living in Britain. Anna Massey Lea was born on September 13^th 1844 in the city of Philadelphia. She counted among her ancestors Andrew Robeson, the first Chief Justice of Pennsylvania back in 1693. Anna was brought up in a wealthy Quaker environment and was the eldest of six children of Joseph Lea and Susanna Massey. Her affluent upbringing allowed her to attend politically progressive schools where she studied classics, languages, mathematics, and music with private tutors. As far as her artistic upbringing was concerned, she began to study drawing with the portrait painter, William Henry Furness, at the age of seven. Admission to the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was probably not possible for her but later she studied anatomy at the newly founded Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia.

In 1867, when she was twenty-three, she and her family took a trip to Europe. continuing her art studies at the Louvre in Paris, in Rome, and in Dresden with the painter the German painter, Heinrich Hoffman, at the Academy of Art in Dresden. In 1870 Anna was living in Paris. She was at a boarding school living with her sister but that July the Franco-Prussian War broke out and the Prussian army was marching on the French capital. Fearing for their safety, she and her family were forced to abandon France and make their way to London. Rather than return to America with her family she persuaded her father to let her remain in London. He acquiesced and arranged for her to live with family friends. However, at their house there was no room for a studio but after searching for a suitable place she found one in the house where Henry Merritt lived. Later in her 1879 biography, Henry Merritt: Art Criticism and Romance, she wrote about the early days in the studio and her timidity towards Henry Merritt:

“…I soon heard that he was a restorer and a connoisseur, but with timidity natural in a woman living alone in a foreign country, I avoided every acquaintance which might seem to arise in an accidental manner. I shut myself into an ugly studio, with a window through which I could look neither on the earth nor into the sky, and produced ugly pictures with no truth in them…”

Once Anna had got over her initial shyness, she became quite close to Merritt and took advice from him with regards her paintings. She offered to pay him for his guidance but he refused stating his “rules”:

“… if I teach you, I must have the right to do it my own way. I must come when I like and scold you as much as I choose, and be altogether my own master if I am to be yours…”

And so he began to critique her work and was often quite blunt as Anna remembered:

“…So it was : how he scolded me ; how ruthlessly he rubbed out again and again the work of days, bidding me do it better ; what pains he took to make me appreciate true points of excellence ! When my work was dry, and had lain by awhile, he would sketch upon it in crayon, de- signing backgrounds or trying various effects of chiaroscuro. No one ever witnessed as I have done his fertility of invention, his refinement of colouring, his variety in touch. Often, he would work thus for a couple of hours, transforming my tame study of a model into a vision. The picture would go through a succession of different effects, any one of which could have satisfied a less imaginative mind. He would then throw down the chalks or the brushes, as the case might be, just give me time to study it, and wash off all he had done, bidding me make another design according to similar laws…”

Over time Anna’s relationship with Henry Merritt changed from Master and Pupil to a more intimate relationship. Around the winter of 1875 Henry’s health deteriorated and he developed a never-ending cough which he downplayed to Anna saying:

“…It would be impossible to cough so splendidly with weak lungs…..My cough is no better although I have practiced it continually…”

The cough didn’t get better, in fact, it worsened and he began to cough up blood which he tried to ignore using a coloured handkerchief to catch the phlegm and disguise any signs of blood. In the Spring of 1876 Anna was forced to leave London and travel to America as escort for her younger sister who had to return to the family. She told Henry that she did not want to leave him but it was her duty to the family but she promised to return in the Autumn.

Anna, once in America, now found herself having to pay for two studios – the one in America and the rent on her London studio and to afford this she had to find some commissions for her work. All the time Henry was writing to her telling her to concentrate on her art and look for work. The tone of his letters showed how he had become devoted to Anna. He would address his letters to:

“My dear little pupil”

In a letter from his Devonshire Street studio, dated May 8^th 1876, he tried to ease Anna’s worries that during their enforced separation he would forget her and write words to boost her self-belief. He wrote:

“…You imagine that I shall forget you. Am I likely after all the trouble I have taken to make a painter of you ? Do we plant fruit trees in order to leave them when the blossoms that are to produce peaches and apples appear ? Some day you will learn to value your many precious gifts better than to surmise that anyone possessing understanding will fail to appreciate a talented girl. Those who have hearts—there are not many—will not fail to see that Anna M. Lea is also a generous girl. I saw it long ago, or I should hardly have taken the trouble to teach her to spread colours upon canvas…”

*Portrait of Henry Merritt with a Pipe by Anna Lea Merritt (1877)*

Their separation lasted until March 1877. It was a time when Anna was grieving for two close relatives who had died and it made her more conscious with regards life and death and that Henry was still ill and living alone in London. It also coincided with having completed a number of lucrative commissions so that she was in the financial position to buy a sea passage to England.

In mid-March 1877, Anna arrived in Liverpool and travelled down to London to see Henry. A small celebratory party followed. Of the evening Anna recalled what Henry said to her. In her 1879 biography of her husband, Henry Merritt: Art Criticism and Romance, she recalled his words:

“…Little Pupil we shall be married. I cannot part from you again. I am like a ship at the end of a long voyage, after ploughing the ocean for many a year, become covered with barnacles and all sorts of queer clinging weeds. But I do not see why I should give up our happiness for the sake of ungrateful people, who only think of what money they can get from me. We can still spare something for them, but in time perhaps you will have to defend me from them. You will be happy living in a cottage, as we soon shall, when I show you what a beautiful life it can be made. You are my only true friend, we must never be separated…”

On April 17^th 1877 Anna and Henry married privately at St Pancras Church, London. She was thirty-three years old, he was fifty-five. It was a happy time for the couple. However Anna was ever conscious that her husband’s facial expression could not mask the pain he was in. On July 22^nd, Henry’s fifty-fifth birthday they drove to Hampton Court and talked about their future plans and buying a small cottage in the country. Henry’s health took a turn for the worse and Anna recalls those last days with her husband:

“…Suffering became intense, but was never more nobly borne. His constant thought was for me. He feared my fatigue, he-feared my anxiety; but it was my great comfort that he could not spare me from him. No one else could be permitted to wait upon him, and for every trifling service he was so grateful, as though he did not expect to be tenderly nursed. ‘I have borne years of loneliness,’ he said, ‘ but happiness is too much for me.”

Henry Merritt died in July 10^th 1877, shortly after his fifty-fifth birthday and he was buried in Woking and as she promised Henry, Anna had an elm tree planted above his grave. Anna had decided that she would give up painting when she married Henry but now, with him dead, her plans had to change and she survived financially by her portrait paintings and her depictions of Victorian subjects.

Now, I come to that painting I mentioned at the beginning of the blog. It is looked on as her great masterpiece. It is entitled Love Locked Out which she completed in 1889. This painting shows young Cupid, the god of desire, pressed against the door of a tomb. Anna painted it as a memorial to her husband. The thorny rose around the door frame symbolises the pain of bereavement and the persistence of love. Cupid has abandoned the world, his arrow and extinguished lamp lie on the ground with the autumn leaves. Anna described the depiction as Cupid attempting in vain to force open the door of a mausoleum, as ‘Love waiting for the door of death to open’ so that the ‘lonely pair’ might be once again reunited. In a way it symbolised her desperate effort to be with her husband in the next life. The work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 and is now part of the Tate Britain collection. She was the first woman artist to have a work acquired for the Tate collection.

*The Watchers of the Straight Gate by Anna Lea Merritt (1894)*

In 1894 Anna Merritt completed another painting which depicted the two worlds – pre-death and after-death, The Watchers of the Straight Gate is Anna Merritts take on the transition between Earth and Heaven, between the living and the dead. The setting is just inside the gate to Heaven. The reddish marble columns were reminders to Anna of the columns at the National Gallery, where she sought special permission to bring her canvas so that she could paint them directly, rather than from memory. The artist has depicted two angels. One carries a scale on which to weigh the soul of who wishes to enter the kingdom of heaven. The other angel is seen holding a crown of wild roses with which to welcome accepted souls into glory. If we look between the gate we are offered a view of a verdant landscape transected by a path, which Anna described as depicting the ‘steep road descending to our village’ of Hurstbourne Tarrant in Dorset, where she was living at the time.

In 1890 Anna Merritt moved out of London and settled permanently in the Hampshire village of Hurstbourne Tarrant. It was her love of the rural village that made her put pen to paper years later and produce her 1902 book, A Hamlet in Old Hampshire.

*Eve Overcome by Remorse by Anna Lea Merritt (1887)*

In 1893 she received medals for two works at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition, a mural in the Woman’s Building and the painting Eve Overcome by Remorse which she had finished six years earlier.

*Wall murals at St. Martin’s Church in Surrey by Anna Lea Merritt (1893/4)*

She then accepted the commission to paint murals for St. Martin’s Church in Surrey (1893-94).

Museum Art Reproductions | James Russell Lowell, 1882 by Anna Lea Merritt (1844-1930, United States) | ArtsDot.com — *Portrait of James Russell Lowell by Anna Lea Merritt (1882)*

Merritt was a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and carried out numerous portrait commissions, including her 1882 portrait of James Russell Lowell, the American Romantic poet and is now part of the Harvard University Portrait collection.

Often I have written about the obstacles put in front of aspiring female artists but strangely Anna Merritt was not convinced about this and in 1900, she wrote an amusing article in Lippincott’s Magazine entitled Letter to Artists in which she cited problems in domestic life as being the main problem for female painters. The article concluded:

“…The chief obstacle to a woman’s success is that she can never have a wife. Just reflect what a wife does for an artist: Darns the stockings; keeps his house; writes his letters; visits for his benefit; wards off intruders; is personally suggestive of beautiful pictures; always an encouraging and partial critic. It is exceedingly difficult to be an artist without this time-saving help. A husband would be quite useless…”

Anna Lea Merritt died in Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire on 5 April 1930, aged 85.

Arthur Hacker

My featured artist today is the late Victorian painter Arthur Hacker. He regularly exhibited his works at the Royal Academy, London and the New Gallery in Regents Street which closed as a gallery in 1910 and is now a fashion store. His painting genres were many including works featuring contemporary drama, mythological and Biblical narratives, landscapes and still lifes. Later he concentrated on portraiture which proved very lucrative.

*Mr Charles Davies on The Traverser by Edward Hacker*

Arthur Hacker was born on September 25^th, 1858 in the North London district of St Pancras. His father was Edward Hacker, a line engraver who specialised in animal and sporting prints. Edward Hacker worked for forty years for the Sporting Review. Having completed his normal schooling, eighteen-years-old, Arthur Hacker applied for and was accepted into the Royal Academy Schools in 1876 and after four years of artistic tuition graduated in 1880. He then, like many artists of the time, travelled to Paris and trained in the atelier of Léon Bonnat. One of his fellow pupils at the Royal Academy Schools and at the atelier was Stanhope Forbes, the English artist who was a founding member of the influential Newlyn school of painters. Arthur was greatly influenced by French art, especially their plein air realism.

*Her Daughter’s Legacy by Arthur Hacker*

In 1881 he had his painting Her Daughter’s Legacy displayed at the Royal Academy and it received rave reviews. An engraved version was used as an illustration for The Illustrated London News, on August 6^th 1881.

Hacker completed a number of other paintings which depicted the harsh reality of peasant life. One which particularly catches the eye is his painting, A Heavy Burden, in which we see a a man struggling to carry his sleeping son through fields whilst his daughter follows on behind clutching hold of a bunch of wildflowers in the folds of her apron, which she has managed to pick during their walk.

Once Hacker had completed his studies in Paris in 1884 he set off on a painting voyage of discovery through Spain and north Africa with his friend and fellow British painter, Solomon J. Solomon, who painted Hacker’s portrait when the two were in Tangiers. This would be the first of many expeditions Hacker made to Africa.

*By the Waters of Babylon by Arthur Hacker (1888)*

In 1886, Arthur Hacker along with Stanhope Forbes and Philip Wilson Steer, joined The New English Art Club (NEAC). It was founded in London as an exhibiting society by artists influenced by impressionism and whose work was rejected by the conservative Royal Academy and were looking for a new exhibition space. Early members were James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Walter Sickert and Philip Steer. Others in the NEAC’s first show included Sir George Clausen, Stanhope Forbes and John Singer Sargent.

Pelagia and Philammon, 1887 by Arthur Hacker (1858-1919, United Kingdom) | Museum Quality Copies Arthur Hacker | ArtsDot.com — *Pelagia and Philammon by Arthur Hacker (1887)*

For most of us the name Charles Kingsley conjures up his famous children’s book, The Water Babies, which he published in 1863. However, ten years earlier he published a novel entitled Hypatia which recounts the fictionalised account of the life of the female philosopher Hypatia. It was said to have been a favourite of Queen Victoria. Also, within the tale is the young monk Philammon and his search for his sister Pelagia who has been living as a hermit in the desert. In Hacker’s 1867 painting we see this poignant meeting of the siblings. Pelagia is at the point of death, and Philammon administers the holy sacraments to her. Philammon is sitting by the body of his sister. A chalice can be seen by his side. In the background we see vultures aware of the oncoming death.

*The Sea Maiden by Arthur Hacker (1897)*

Another of Hacker’s paintings which featured a nude woman was his 1897 work entitled The Sea Maiden.

Arthur Hacker also painted a number of religious works and one of his best known was his 1892 painting entitled The Annunciation which is now part of the Tate Britain collection. The depiction presents the Biblical story of the Annunciation, as was recorded in the Gospel of James. In that particular account, Mary, while gathering water from a well, is visited by an angel, which she cannot see. It is said by some that it is Hacker’s most beautiful painting.

The angel tells Mary that she will have a baby and that he should be named Jesus. It is thought that during Hacker’s travels in Spain and North Africa he was influenced by the life amongst the native people and in this painting it could well be that the clothes we see Mary wearing replicates the Islamic dress Hacker will have seen during his travels. The fabric enshrouds Mary almost makes her ghost-like. Mary stands tall with such grace. she wears layers of soft, floating, light fabric. These robes lend her multiple identities. All at once she is a classical Grecian statue, a goddess, and a bride. She appears authoritative and ethereal, yet tragic and mournful.

In the work, the figure of Mary is both radiant and haunting and is framed in the centre of the painting. Hovering behind Mary is an angel who has floated down from the sky. Hacker has painted the angel so translucently that he almost disappears into the background. In the angel’s hand the there is an offering of a lily. Historically, flowers are symbolic of the Virgin Mary’s and the lily’s’ white petals imply Mary’s chastity and the golden pollen of the flower symbolises her radiant soul. On either side of her, Hacker has placed objects which help narrate the story. A large brown clay water jug is on the floor by her feet. Behind her we see the twisted trunk and branches of an olive tree.

In front are steps and a low wall, which encircle the pool of water which she has come to, so as to fill her jug. Mary seems detached from things around her. She ignores them as she stares directly towards us, the viewer. Look how she looks out at us. We are hypnotised by that penetrating stare. Her eyes are dark and disconcerting and contrast with her small, white, veiled face. She has a thoughtful and solemn countenance and her hands are resting against her heart. She is now aware that something dramatic is taking place, something which will affect her life.

Infra-red photography shows that the painting originally included a woman wearing a headscarf sitting behind Mary.

The Temptation of Sir Percival by Arthur Hacker (1894)

One of Hacker’s well-known works is his Pre-Raphaelite-style painting The Temptation of Sir Percival. The 1894 painting depicts a scene from Thomas Malory’s 1480’s book Le Morte d’Arthur, recounting the story of King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Percival a knight of the Round Table who went on a quest to find the Holy Grail. During that mission, the devil in the form of a beautiful but predatory women tries but fails to seduce Sir Percival and get him drunk. Sir Percival however on looking at his sword he notices the handle and its shaft form a cross. On seeing this, he crosses himself and the woman vanishes.

The Temptation of Sir Percival is now kept in the Leeds City Art Gallery collection.

Arthur Hacker RA, A Wet Night at Piccadilly Circus — *A Wet Night at Piccadilly Circus by Arthur Hacker (1910)*

Public taste in art changed around the 1890’s and their once-loved genre of historical subjects began to wane and this forced artists, of that genre, to think about diversifying. Arthur Hacker had to change the subjects in his paintings but he was equal to the challenge. One solution for Hacker was his decision to re-visit his earlier ideas which had still engaged public interest. He once again experimented with misty, atmospheric depictions of the London streets, undoubtedly motivated by the work of the French Impressionists, and produced a wonderful painting, Wet Night, Piccadilly Circus which he completed in 1910 and submitted it as his diploma piece when he was promoted to the rank of Royal Academician.

*Punting on the Thames by Arthur Hacker (1901)*

For reasons of finance it was important for artists to judge the changing interests of the buyers of art. They needed to know what could make them the most money. Arthur Hacker, like John William Waterhouse, Frank Dicksee and others, decided that portraiture could be a wise financial strategy and they began to develop a flourishing portrait practice. Hacker carried out many portraiture commissions and amongst his sitters were politicians, army officers, high-ranking clergy, aldermen, headmasters, physicians and society women.

An example of Arthur Hacker’s portraiture can be seen in his Portrait of John Gordon Thomson, who drew the central cartoons for Fun the Victorian weekly magazine a rival to the better-known Punch magazine. Thomson was an artist who had his work exhibited at the Royal Academy and illustrated many books and magazines.

Sir Frank Short (1857–1945) — Sir Frank Short by Arthur Hacker (1918)

Another portrait by Arthur Hacker was his 1918 work depicting the British engraver Frank Short who was born at Wollaston, Worcestershire. He was the son of an engineer and trained to follow his father’s profession; his scientific background gave him a deep understanding of materials, and he made his own tools and invented new ones.

*Portrait of the Artist’s Mother* (Sophia Hacker) *by Arthur Hacker (1907)*

Another beautiful work of portraiture was his portrait of his mother in 1907. Albeit a very formal pose it still manages to remain both sophisticated and gentle in its depiction of the elderly lady.

Charlotte A. Ferguson of Largham, Donor of Victory Park — *Charlotte A. Ferguson of Largham by Arthur Hacker*

In 1902, Hacker built a new house at Heath End, Checkendon, Oxfordshire, and named it Hall Ingle. He had commissioned a young architect Maxwell Ayrton to design the property and carried out the decorations himself. Arthur Hacker died in Kensington, London on November 12th 1919. He was sixty-one years old. He is buried in Brockwood Cemetery, Surrey.