Portrait Of A Lady ~ By ~ Jens Juel ~ 1745 - 1802.

Jens Juel was an 18th century Danish painter, primarily known for his many portraits, of which the largest collection is on display at Frederiksborg Castle.
Juel was born in the house of his mother's brother Johan Jørgensen; showing an interest in painting from an early age, his parents sent him to be an apprentice of painter Johann Michael Gehrman in Hamburg, Here Jens improved so much that by his twenties he had acquired a reputation as a painter of portraits, landscapes, etc. In 1765 he moved to Copenhagen to attend the Royal Danish Academy of Art, in 1767 being awarded its small, then in 1771 large, gold medals. 1772 saw him move to Rome, where he stayed for four years together with other Danish artists, including Nicolai Abildgaard. From Rome, he moved to Paris, at the time a centre of portrait painting. In 1777 he moved on to Geneva, where he stayed for two years in the company of other Danish artists, including etcher Johann Friderich Clemens; here Juel soon established himself as an excellent artist, particularly with regards to portaiture.

"La baronne de Crussol" By ~ Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun ~ 1755 - 1842.

Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee, better known under her married name of Le Brun, and generally spoken of as Madame Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun, was born in Paris on April 16, 1755. Her father, Louis Vigee, was a pastel painter of moderate talent, devoted to his art and always ready to commend and encourage his daughter's talent. In those 'Souvenirs' in which Madame Vigee Le Brun has recorded the incidents of her life, she tells us that her love for painting bad already declared itself when, as a child of six, she was sent to a convent school, where she was in constant disgrace with her teachers because she decorated her copy books and those of her schoolmates, and even the walls of the dormitory, with faces and landscapes in colored chalks. On one occasion, when at home on a holiday, she drew by lamplight a vigorous little sketch of the bead of a man, which so delighted her father that he exclaimed, "You will be a painter, my child, if ever there was one" These words Elisabeth Vigee never forgot, and that childish drawing, made when she was but seven or eight years old, was cherished by her as long' as she lived.

"Young Woman With Lace Shawl" By ~ Adelaide salles-Wagner ~ 1825 - 1890.

Adelaide Salles-Wagner (1825-1890)
[Adelheid Salles-Wagner]

Mme. Adelheid Salles-Wagner, born in 1825 in Dresden, is the elder of two sisters, both of whom are well-known painters. Her family name is Wagner. Her sister Elise, who became Madame Puyroche, devoted herself to flower painting. Adelheid studied the figure, first at the Dresden Academy and later under Jacquand and Cogniet in Paris. There she met and married the well-known artist Jules Salles [Jules Salles-Warner (1814-1898)], a native of Nimes and pupil of Paul Delaroche. Mme. Salles-Wagner made her first successes with portraits, in oil and in pastel, and then produced a series of mythological and religious pictures of rare merit. In her present picture, the chaste Arethusa, persecuted by the persistent attentions of the love smitten Arcadian river-god Alpheius, prays to Diana for protection against his unwelcome importunities, and is being changed by her into the magic fountain of Artygia.

"On The Terrace", By ~ Sir Edward John Poynter ~ 1836 - 1919.

Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet, was an English painter, designer, draughtsman and art administrator, most active during the second half of the 19th century.
The son of Ambrose Poynter, an architect, he was born in Paris. He was educated at Ipswich School and Brighton College before studying first in London, later in Rome (where he became a great admirer of Michelangelo) and lastly, with Charles Gleyre in Paris (where he met James McNeill Whistler). Poynter held a number of official posts: he was the first Slade Professor from 1871 to 1875, was Principal of the National Art Training School from 1875 to 1881, was Director of the National Gallery from 1894 to 1904