DOI Heft:
Nr. 78 (Septembre 1899)
DOI Artikel:D'Anvers, N.: The work of Cecilia Beaux
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19232#0251
Cecilia Beaux
figures, their relationship not being indicated in
any way except in the title of the picture. In The
Dreamer, on the other hand, one of the most
poetic of the artist’s works, there is a restful and
satisfying sense of completeness. The pose, the
features, and the hands of the beautiful girl, who
is the very embodiment of ideal maidenhood, are
all alike expressive of her utter contentment with
her lot, and in her eyes is “ the secret of a happy
dream she does not care to speak.”
In the New England Woman, now in the posses-
sion of the Pennsylvania Academy at Philadelphia,
a feminine type of a very different kind from The
Dreamer, is reproduced with equal skill and
fidelity, and in it Miss Beaux has gathered up
with rare force and simplicity the whole story of a
faithful devoted life, into which no
thought of self has entered to mar
its usefulness. The title might well
be changed to Retrospect, for it is
evident that this New England
woman is absorbed in the thought
of what has been, and is not, as is
the other dreamer, looking forward
to a happy future full of all manner
of beautiful possibilities. The Cyn-
thia, a portrait of the daughter of
the American artist, Mrs. R. E.
Sherwood, is a very effective like-
ness of its quaint original, but it
loses much of its beauty in the
black-and-white reproduction, its
vivid yet delicate colouring being
one of its greatest charms. In the
Ernesta and her little Brother the
artist has perhaps touched her high-
est point of excellence in the ren-
dering of form and of expression,
for the episode of child-life is ren-
dered with real dramatic force.
The little fellow with his chubby
hands flung behind him in his
eagerness, in the gesture so natural
to children, is holding forth on a
matter of vital importance to him-
self to his sister, who listens with a
, very grown-up air of superior wis-
dom. It is her turn now to be the
guardian and the leader, but her
features are little changed from the
time when she posed to her aunt
for her first likeness.
As a rule the figures in Cecilia
“ernesta and her little brother” by cecilia beaux Beaux’s pictures are represented in
their pupils, so that with them the stamp of their
own individuality became of more importance than
that of their subject, a fact detracting very greatly
from the value of their work, especially in the case
of portraiture.
Far otherwise is it with Miss Beaux and some
other modern portrait-painters. She studies the
hands with the same care as any other peculiarity of
those who sit to her, and no Morelli could identify
her work by means of the hands alone: it must
stand or fall as a whole, a significant indication of
her skill in merging her own idiosyncrasies in
those of her subject. In the Mother and Son,
portraits of Mrs. Beauveau Boric and her son, she
has produced two very effective likenesses in spite
of the somewhat awkward arrangement of the
220
figures, their relationship not being indicated in
any way except in the title of the picture. In The
Dreamer, on the other hand, one of the most
poetic of the artist’s works, there is a restful and
satisfying sense of completeness. The pose, the
features, and the hands of the beautiful girl, who
is the very embodiment of ideal maidenhood, are
all alike expressive of her utter contentment with
her lot, and in her eyes is “ the secret of a happy
dream she does not care to speak.”
In the New England Woman, now in the posses-
sion of the Pennsylvania Academy at Philadelphia,
a feminine type of a very different kind from The
Dreamer, is reproduced with equal skill and
fidelity, and in it Miss Beaux has gathered up
with rare force and simplicity the whole story of a
faithful devoted life, into which no
thought of self has entered to mar
its usefulness. The title might well
be changed to Retrospect, for it is
evident that this New England
woman is absorbed in the thought
of what has been, and is not, as is
the other dreamer, looking forward
to a happy future full of all manner
of beautiful possibilities. The Cyn-
thia, a portrait of the daughter of
the American artist, Mrs. R. E.
Sherwood, is a very effective like-
ness of its quaint original, but it
loses much of its beauty in the
black-and-white reproduction, its
vivid yet delicate colouring being
one of its greatest charms. In the
Ernesta and her little Brother the
artist has perhaps touched her high-
est point of excellence in the ren-
dering of form and of expression,
for the episode of child-life is ren-
dered with real dramatic force.
The little fellow with his chubby
hands flung behind him in his
eagerness, in the gesture so natural
to children, is holding forth on a
matter of vital importance to him-
self to his sister, who listens with a
, very grown-up air of superior wis-
dom. It is her turn now to be the
guardian and the leader, but her
features are little changed from the
time when she posed to her aunt
for her first likeness.
As a rule the figures in Cecilia
“ernesta and her little brother” by cecilia beaux Beaux’s pictures are represented in
their pupils, so that with them the stamp of their
own individuality became of more importance than
that of their subject, a fact detracting very greatly
from the value of their work, especially in the case
of portraiture.
Far otherwise is it with Miss Beaux and some
other modern portrait-painters. She studies the
hands with the same care as any other peculiarity of
those who sit to her, and no Morelli could identify
her work by means of the hands alone: it must
stand or fall as a whole, a significant indication of
her skill in merging her own idiosyncrasies in
those of her subject. In the Mother and Son,
portraits of Mrs. Beauveau Boric and her son, she
has produced two very effective likenesses in spite
of the somewhat awkward arrangement of the
220