Mine. Debillemont-Chardon s Miniatures
attained any measure of success; the others have
remained by the wayside, and despite an execu-
tion which might become pretty and charming,
have served but to swell the ranks of the medio-
crities. The miniaturist in portrait work must
not remain content with mere external resem-
blance, but must endeavour to look deeper and
to divine the spiritual side of the sitter, his char-
acter, his personality, for besides the face it is
also the soul that the artist must try to see."
Madame Debillemont - Chardon has aimed
to lift the art of miniature painting from the
level of the conventional, pretty, coquettish,
and, if I may be allowed the expression, " bon-
bon box " kind of work. She has conceived with
much truth the idea that too often subjects of
mere dainty elegance have been chosen by
miniature painters, and that in reality all human
beings, even the most lowly, are worthy of being
set down upon ivory amid their own proper
environment. It is for this reason that she has
"jeune nymphe." by gabrielle chosen for one of her subjects Deux vieux
debili.emont-chardon z> ■ U" u ■ s lL
(Muste du Luxembourg) Bourgmgnons, in which we are sensitive to the
earthy savour of the old vineyards of the Cote
excellent notoriety at the Exhibitions of Paris, d'Or. La petite Kabyle, and the little girl in
London, Copenhagen, Munich and elsewhere, a red dress of the Island of Marken, have the
Mme. Debillemont-Chardon is able to explain the merit, one sees, of having been done in the open
difficulties of the art of miniature painting, and air, and of trapping the sunlight in the beautiful
can teach how they may be overcome, how to eyes of the little models who have served as
obtain that lightness of hand, that accuracy of her types. To make new experiments in colour,
touch, that taste for harmonious colouring and that in effects of light, studies under all conditions; not
subtle blending of tones without which no charming to subordinate the role of the miniaturist to the
miniatures capable of
resisting the ravages of
time can exist. " It is a
great mistake," she re-
marks in an excellent
treatise on miniature paint-
ing on ivory published
under her name, " to sup-
pose that it is not neces-
sary to be able to draw
well in order to paint a
good miniature. I counsel
all my pupils who desire
to study painting on ivory,
not to begin this art until
they have been well pre-
pared by good years
devoted to drawing. My
long experience," she
adds, " has taught me
that only those who know "deux vieux bourguignons " by gabrielle debillemont-chardon
how to draw have ever (/« the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)
2!5
attained any measure of success; the others have
remained by the wayside, and despite an execu-
tion which might become pretty and charming,
have served but to swell the ranks of the medio-
crities. The miniaturist in portrait work must
not remain content with mere external resem-
blance, but must endeavour to look deeper and
to divine the spiritual side of the sitter, his char-
acter, his personality, for besides the face it is
also the soul that the artist must try to see."
Madame Debillemont - Chardon has aimed
to lift the art of miniature painting from the
level of the conventional, pretty, coquettish,
and, if I may be allowed the expression, " bon-
bon box " kind of work. She has conceived with
much truth the idea that too often subjects of
mere dainty elegance have been chosen by
miniature painters, and that in reality all human
beings, even the most lowly, are worthy of being
set down upon ivory amid their own proper
environment. It is for this reason that she has
"jeune nymphe." by gabrielle chosen for one of her subjects Deux vieux
debili.emont-chardon z> ■ U" u ■ s lL
(Muste du Luxembourg) Bourgmgnons, in which we are sensitive to the
earthy savour of the old vineyards of the Cote
excellent notoriety at the Exhibitions of Paris, d'Or. La petite Kabyle, and the little girl in
London, Copenhagen, Munich and elsewhere, a red dress of the Island of Marken, have the
Mme. Debillemont-Chardon is able to explain the merit, one sees, of having been done in the open
difficulties of the art of miniature painting, and air, and of trapping the sunlight in the beautiful
can teach how they may be overcome, how to eyes of the little models who have served as
obtain that lightness of hand, that accuracy of her types. To make new experiments in colour,
touch, that taste for harmonious colouring and that in effects of light, studies under all conditions; not
subtle blending of tones without which no charming to subordinate the role of the miniaturist to the
miniatures capable of
resisting the ravages of
time can exist. " It is a
great mistake," she re-
marks in an excellent
treatise on miniature paint-
ing on ivory published
under her name, " to sup-
pose that it is not neces-
sary to be able to draw
well in order to paint a
good miniature. I counsel
all my pupils who desire
to study painting on ivory,
not to begin this art until
they have been well pre-
pared by good years
devoted to drawing. My
long experience," she
adds, " has taught me
that only those who know "deux vieux bourguignons " by gabrielle debillemont-chardon
how to draw have ever (/« the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)
2!5