Mrs. Elizabeth Boott Duveneck

In 1886 Duveneck was married to Miss Elizabeth Boott of Boston, herself a painter of distinction. Miss Boott was born in Boston, and, having lost her mother while still a very young child, was taken by her father to Florence to live with two of her aunts. Later she went to Paris to study painting with Couture and lived with his family. At the age of eighteen, she came to America and studied with William Morris Hunt, who had been a pupil of Couture before falling so strongly under the influence of Millet.

About this time Duveneck's one-man show was held in Boston and was greatly admired by Miss Boott; so much so that she induced her father to purchase the portrait of Mr. Adams, which is now in the Cincinnati Museum.

"Portrait of William Adams" 1874

Duveneck's various portraits of his wife reveal a character refined, womanly, and at the same time marked by firmness, and this latter quality was clearly demonstrated in the present instance. Miss Boott determined not only to own the portrait of Mr. Adams, but to study with the man who had painted it. Accordingly she and her father sought out Duveneck in Munich in 1879, their cab drawing up at the door when he was in the very act of closing his studio to go to Polling, Bavaria. She having got so far, it is not remarkable that the young artist's lack of enthusiasm over teaching a young girl should have been overcome, so he advised her to paint for a while in Munich, but gladly offered to criticise her work on his return. The sequel to this story was their engagement which, however, did not result in marriage until nearly seven years later. They were married in Paris in 1885 and spent the two brief years before her untimely death in Florence, in a villa on the crest of a hill overlooking the city. She died in Paris and lies buried in the Allori Cemetery in Florence, where the memorial figure in bronze, which Duveneck created for it, marks the spot. A son, Frank, survived her. [He went to live with relatives in Boston. Elizabeth's father had a copy of her funerary effigy made in marble and displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston so that her son, family and friends could go and see it.]

A copy of Elizabeth's funerary effigy created by
Frank and Clement Barnhorn, and his final portrait of her
at the Cincinnati Art Museum...so sad~

Mrs. Duveneck possessed great talent. Her watercolors and canvases, among them powerful studies of figures and landscapes, but chiefly of still life, place her without effort among artists of achievement.

"Apple Tree Branches," 1883 by Elizabeth Boott Duveneck
at the Cincinnati Art Museum

* from Norbert Hermann's book, "Frank Duveneck." The full text is available free online: http://archive.org/stream/frankduveneck00heeruoft/frankduveneck00heeruoft_djvu.txt

Duveneck & Whistler in Italy

In Florence, Duveneck found it hard to work, owing to his being so well known, in fact pursued, as would appear to have been the case from Pennell's remark in his book on Whistler, that he and Whistler used to run across Duveneck in little out-of-the-way cafes, where he was hiding from them. This lasted for two more years when Duveneck decided to disband his class, thinking it would be better for his group of really fine students to go back to Munich or Paris on account of the opportunity of seeing what was going on through exhibitions and the like.

In 1880 Duveneck became keenly interested in etching, but a visit to America soon interrupted this work. Returning to Venice after about a year, he produced, in 1883 and 1884, some twenty notable plates. Without his knowledge in 1881, Lady Collin Campbell had sent his three etchings of the "Riva Degli Schiavoni, Venice" to London, for the first exhibition of the "New Society of Painter-Etchers" at the Hanover Gallery. The story of how several members of that society suspected that they were the works of Whistler under a nom de plume, is well known, the facts having been put on record various times and Whistler's witty correspondence on the subject being included in "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies."

Riva Degli Schiavoni, Venice No. 1 by Frank Duveneck

Riva Degli Schiavoni, Venice No. 2 by Frank Duveneck

In this connection Seymour Haden later said that after seeing the etchings there was absolutely no doubt with him as to their originator, that he could not help but feel at once the difference of temperament between Whistler and Duveneck.

Duveneck's etchings of the "Riva degli Schiavoni" were made before Whistler made his; in fact Otto H. Bacher, one of the Duveneck Boys in Venice tells us in his book, "With Whistler in Venice," that Whistler saw these etchings as Bacher was helping Duveneck bite the plates, and that Whistler said with characteristic frankness: "Whistler must do the Riva also." Haden wrote to Duveneck at the time, "I assure you, your owrks are the admiration of all who come to our gallery. Pray do not stop your work in this direction; we shall all be much interested in seeing more of it and doing it all the honor we can."

The Riva, No. 1 by Whistler (at the Frick)
"The high vantage point of this scene suggests that Whistler took the view from a window in his lodgings on the Riva degli Schiavoni. To show the bustling activity below, the artist flattens the foreground space, while allowing the row of buildings to recede to the horizon. The domes and campanile of the basilica of San Marco appear just above the rooftops at the far right." http://www.frick.org/sites/default/files/archivedsite/exhibitions/whistler/etchings.htm

One year after the controversy, Duveneck showed in London another group of etchings which again attracted much interest, Haden testifying his appreciation by buying all that he could get. All of Duveneck's Italian etchings convey his sense of architectural richness and with that the simple pictorial bigness, complete in every way, that characterizes his other work. His plates are superbly conceived and masterly in their draughtsmanship. The plate of the "Rialto" is among those that best convey Duveneck's personal force of conception and touch. Many of his plates have unfortunately been destroyed or lost and few prints are in existence.

The Rialto by Frank Duveneck, 1883

In those Venetian days Duveneck used to see a good deal of Whistler; they were always friendly, but the two were too utterly unlike for the friendship to go beyond a certain point. An amusing little story relates to this time.

"Duveneck and DeCamp, who were printing one day, were sorely in need of paper. They asked Bacher to tell them where he got his beautiful handmade paper. Bacher revealed the secret to the two startled artists in a whisper. Doubtful whether he was merely joking, they nevertheless set out gamely for the market, where to their satisfaction they did find the exquisite paper which was used by a couple of women to wrap up butter. Whistler, who also heard about this, was not slow in laying in as much a stock of the paper as he could get." Of course!

* Text for this post is from Norbert Herrmann's book, "Frank Duveneck" . 1918
which is in its entirety at http://archive.org/stream/frankduveneck00heeruoft/frankduveneck00heeruoft_djvu.txt

The Duveneck Boys . Pt. 5

As previously stated from Nobert Hermann's book, Frank Duveneck: "In the year 1878 Duveneck started a school in Munich, which became so very popular that soon two classes had to be formed of about thirty each, one of Americans and English, the other of different nationalities; and when the desire to again see Italy took him back to Florence at the end of the following year (1879) fully half of his students went with him. Thus his school was transplanted to the banks of the Arno, and the members soon established themselves in the social as well as the artistic circles of Florence as the "Duveneck Boys."

Florence, 1880 by Frank Duveneck

A live picture of this earnest but exuberant group is given in W.D. Howell's story of Florentine Life, Indian Summer, where they are called the "Inglehart Boys." The breezy references to them are invested with a feeling of interest and friendliness. One of the characters introduces them thus:

"They were here all last winter and they just got back. It's rather exciting for Florence. She gave a score of young painters from an art school at Munich under the head of the singular and fascinating genius by whose name they became known. They had their own school for a while in Munich, and then they all came down into Italy in a body. They had their studio things with them, and they traveled third class, and had the greatest fun. They were a sensation in Florence. They went everywhere and were such favorites. I hope they are going to stay."

Such was the impression of them which Howells found in Florence when he went there the year after they had disbanded, and it should be remembered that the Florence of that day was a rallying place for the most fascinating people of Europe.

The  Duveneck Boys stayed together for about two years working in Florence in the winter and in Venice in the summer. Among them were

• John W. Alexander
• John Twachtman
• Joseph DeCamp
• Julius Rolshoven
• Oliver Dennett Grover
• Otto Bacher
• Theodore Wendel
• Louis Ritter
• Ross Turner
• Harper Pennington
• Charles Forbes
• George E. Hopkins
• Julian Story
• Charles E. Mills
• Albert Reinhart
• Charles H. Freeman
• Henry Rosenberg
• John O. Anderson
• Charles Abel Corwin
• Oliver Dennett Grover
• Charles Frederic Ulrich
• and more

Oliver Grover in speaking about his colleagues said that the advice of John Twachtman, of the Cincinnati contingent, one of the older ones, whose knowledge was wider, was appreciated next to that of the "Old Man," as they lovingly denominated Duveneck. Then he continued: "Joseph DeCamp was just plain Joe in those days, the breeziest, cheekiest, most warm-hearted Bohemian in Venice. Full of life, energy, and ambition, he worked unceasingly and gave and took many a hard knock.

Rolshoven, too, was endowed by nature with the artistic temperament, making it especially difficult for him to adapt himself to routine work.

Alexander, of course, was the born favorite and leader which he continued to be throughout his life. We always thought, had Alexander not chosen art as his vocation, he might have become a great diplomat. I remember him at the last annual meeting of the National Academy of Design at which he presided, and during the little while I could converse with him, he took occasion to speak of student days, and to voice feelingly his sense of the obligation he and all of us were under to Duveneck; incidentally, also, recalling Sargent's beautiful estimate of him.

The student days in Italy were all too short, but while they lasted they were more significant, probably, than a similar period in the lives of most students, because they were more intensified, more concentrated. The usual student experiences of work and play, elation and dejection, feast and famine, were ours, of course, but in addition to that, and owing to peculiar circumstances and conditions, the advantage of the intimate association and constant companionship we enjoyed not only with our leader but also with his acquaintances and fellow artists, men and women from many lands, was unique and perhaps quite as valuable as any actual school work. We lived in adjoining room, dined in the same restaurant, frequented the same cafes, worked and played together with an intimacy only possible to that age and such a community of interest."

The inspiration of this class was well epitomized by Duveneck's old professor Diez; it was "Work." It was his custom at the beginning of the year to make an address to the class, and in closing his talk he always said: "Now, I don't want any geniuses in this class; I don't care for pupils who claim an abundance of talent; but what I do want is a crowd of good workers." "This is the thought I have always tried to instill into my pupils," says Mr. Duveneck.

Text from Norbert Hermann's 1918 book, "Frank Duveneck."

Frank Duveneck - From Student to Teacher. Pt. 4

"Toward the end of the year 1873, the year in which the cholera broke out in Munich, Duveneck returned to America. He went at once to Chicago on a commission in connection with a church decoration. Not wishing to carry too much, he traveled with little luggage and no painting material, expecting to buy what he needed there. Upon arriving in Chicago he soon found to his surprise that such things as artist materials were unobtainable goods at that time, in a town that today can boast of having at least three thousand artists and art students. So he was obliged to remain idle until the material could be sent for. Upon his return to Cincinnati he was occupied there with several portrait orders, but an exhibition of a group of his portraits from Munich attracted little or no public attention, which is perhaps not surprising in the state of connoisseurship then existing.

Then came the year 1875, in which his one-man show in Boston proved more than a success, coming near a sensation. Besides receiving excellent criticisms, the whole collection was sold. Nobody was more amazed at this success than Duveneck himself. He has always attributed his favorable reception to William Morris Hunt's lectures on art, which together with Hunt's own work had cleared the way. Leibl, whose work in Germany at that time was very similar to Duveneck's was still absolutely misunderstood there by both press and public; in fact, he had been obliged to leave Munich for the country in 1872, largely because of the lack of funds. If Duveneck had been intent on business he would have accepted the very flattering inducements offered him to remain in Boston. However the call of the artist life in Munich was too strong to be resisted, so he declined them and returned to Munich the same year, where he worked until 1877.

In company with his friend William Merritt Chase, Duveneck then went to Venice, where the two experienced alternations of hardship and prosperity, most of the time managing to exist on practically nothing and enjoying themselves doing it. One year later, 1878, Duveneck was back in Munich. Chase returned to America and connected himself with the Art Students' League which had just been formed, teaching being then the only professional work which he found profitable.

In the year 1878 Duveneck started a school in Munich, which became so very popular that soon two classes had to be formed of about 30 each, one of Americans and English, the other of different nationalities; and when the desire to again see Italy took him back to Florence at the end of the following year (1879) fully half of his students went with him. Thus his school was transplanted to the banks of the Arno, and the members soon established themselves in the social as well as the artistic circles of Florence as the 'Duveneck Boys.'" More about this famous group in our next installment.

Text from Norbert Hermann's 1918 book, "Frank Duveneck."

Elizabeth Boott Duveneck, 1888
Cincinnati Art Museum

 

In the later years Duveneck came under the spell of the French painters. For a time he became vitally interested in their technique, so without much ado he set himself to study their style for several years, many of his enthusiasts lamenting this change. There is a large portrait of his wife in the Cincinnati Art Museum which reveals strikingly this departure; it is a gracefully distinguished work.

Elizabeth Boott Duveneck, Francis Boott,
Frank Duveneck, and Ann Shenston, ca. 1886
from the Archives of American Art

Frank Duveneck, Student in Munich . Pt. 3

Frank Duveneck and Henry F. Farney in
Duveneck's Studio, 1874

 
Part Three of Norbert Herrmann's Book, Frank Duveneck

"It is interesting to linger over the condition of the art world of Munich at the time young Duveneck stepped into it. It was a period of transitions. Within a generation the sound draughtsmanship, painstakingly built up on German soil by schooling received in France, had been followed by a wave of enthusiasm for color and now again had received a fresh impetus from Paris. At that time in the French capital, Delacroix and Ingres, the arch-romanticist and arch-classicist, still held their own. Besides these there were masters such as those glorifying the Napoleonic legend, Horace Vernet and Meissonier; the discoverers of the Orient for art, Decamps, Marilhat, Fromentin ; the genre painters of all kinds ; together with the elegant portrayers of feminine beauty, Cabanel, Baudry; the serious stylists, like Chasseriau, Flandrin, and Chenavard, and the excellent landscape painters. And finally there were the revolutionary realists with Courbet at their head. In a place apart stood Corot and Millet, whose art though closely associated with the Barbizon School is yet greater.

Munich, Germany

Something of all these was reflected in Munich in the sixties, and what is for us most interesting is the fact that two men there at least were following a course parallel to that of Courbet. These men were Wilhelm Leibl, whose influence in Munich was very strong even then, and Wilhelm von Dietz, the young instructor into whose hands Duveneck fell. Their art, resisting the artificialities of the older painters, Piloty and Makart, had been inspired by an intense study of nature and of the Dutch masters in the old Pinakothek, and had, only the year before Duveneck’s coming, received a fresh impulse through a great exhibition of French art in which Courbet was represented by a roomful of paintings. Nature, pure and simple, was what interested them, “Un coin de la nature vu a travers un temperament [A corner of nature seen through a temperament],” was the watchword coined for them by Emile Zola, the spokesman of the new movement.

Wilhelm Liebl, Three Women in Church 1882

It was among such varied influences that Duveneck had placed himself and, as was inevitable with his temperament, it was with the naturalists that he instantly aligned himself. Theirs was the spirit in which Duveneck approached his work.

Given immediately the close contact with a mood and method so absolutely suited to him, and remembering also the technical skill which he had already gained, especially through his free handling of paint in the work of church decoration in America, we can more easily understand the rapid progress of this newcomer in the stimulating art world of Munich, this blond, vigorous, and single-hearted young giant with the “ eye like a hawk,” fresh from a new world and conscious of his own power.

During his first year in Munich, Duveneck took most of the prizes of the Academy, from antique drawing to composition, a progress which was looked upon as nothing short of phenomenal. The admirable study of a Circassian in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts belongs to that year. At that time competitive compositions were made, the prize-winners were granted the use of a studio, the expenses for models to complete the prize competition usually being paid in addition. Duveneck won this prize in 1872.

The Whistling Boy, 1872

After establishing himself in the newly won studio he did not, and indeed soon proved that he did not have to, return to Dietz’s class, for to this time belongs that series of canvases of which we need recall only one, the Whistling Boy. In this picture are fully evident the qualities which startled and quickly attracted the other painters and students to him. Foremost among these is the expressive use of the paint itself, an astonishing virtuosity of brushwork closely related to Franz Hals, in which the daring and yet perfectly controlled hand defines planes, textures, and color with an
unhesitating brush loaded with paint. Even to the amateur this method makes an appeal, its chief merit being liveliness and force with rich, vibrant color.

Woman with Forget-Me-Nots (detail), 1876

Later, in the portrait of the Woman with Forget-Me-Nots, which is dated 1876, we feel the distinct ripening in pictorial insight. The fact that Duveneck at that time used to take his pictures to the Pinakothek and set them beside the old masters, the Dutch and Flemish being his favorite ones, makes us understand that as the Whistling Boy was Duveneck pure and simple, the Woman with Forget-Me-Nots is a development, through an inspiration that comes straight from the Netherlands, the hands being very suggestive of Rubens. Duveneck used a restricted palette in those days, composed chiefly of plain earth colors. A student who once asked some one who knew Duveneck in Munich, what kind of brushes and colors the latter then used, received the answer: “ Oh, generally somebody else’s.”



Notes:
St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, Kentucky is one location with some of Frank Duveneck's murals. This is an interactive, 360 degree site and well worth your time. Look in the Prayer Nave for some of his work: http://rackphoto.com/panos/rackoramas/cov-cath-tour/covcath-nave-main.html

Frank Duveneck by Norbert Herrmann . Pt. 2

Second in a Series: Duveneck's Entry Into the World of Art

"Before this audience, in 1875, came Frank Duveneck with his little one-man show of five canvases, a young fellow of twenty-seven  years with but a three years’ schooling in  Munich behind him. The canvases he showed  were “ The Woman with a Fan,” “ The Old  Schoolmaster,” “ Portrait of William Adams,”  “Portrait of Professor Loefftz,” and the “ Whistling Boy.” Here at last was a personality that spoke a definite, a beautifully and  powerfully definite language. Duveneck’s exhibition proved an immediate success. The pictures were acclaimed by Hunt and many others and by the whole press. 

"The Woman with a Fan" 1873

"Whistling Boy" 1872

The opening of a new era in American art was proclaimed. In 1877, the National Academy Exhibition in New York, including a group of canvases by the American painters from the Munich School, became a fresh landmark, and with the founding in the following year of “ The Society of American Artists “ and their subsequent exhibition at the Kurtz Gallery in New York in 1878, the new era in American Art was fairly launched. The younger men among the American painters had been brought into contact with a vital influence from outside and had been taught to respect their own reaction to it. As we have seen, this first impulse came by way of Munich; later Paris became the art school of the world. All this now is too well known to be dwelt upon.

"Portrait of William Adams" 1874

In speaking of Duveneck I would emphasize the powerful effect of his own work at the outset of our era. What he accomplished after that, while not less surely, was more quietly done. His class in Florence, then known as
the “Duveneck Boys,” his Italian paintings, his series of Venetian and Florentine etchings, his work as a sculptor, decorator, and as adviser has been of inestimable value, the story of his life affording a natural bridge by which to pass from our early period to the present day.

"Portrait of Professor Ludwig Loefftz" 1873

Frank Duveneck was born in 1848 in Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Among his early recollections are a variety of interesting incidents of the Civil War. Naturally, living on the border-line of North and South, he felt the influence of the conflict through contact with the sick and wounded; also with negro refugees, half starved, helpless, and often not too hospitably received. At this time the Benedictine Friars were making altars for Catholic churches in Covington, and they employed Duveneck, still a mere boy, in his first artistic work. He painted, modeled, carved, decorated, finding a great deal of pleasure in the variety of his work.

His ability soon attracted the attention of a local painter named Schmidt, and later, at the age of eighteen, of a church decorator of German birth and training named Lamprecht, who coming just then to Cincinnati accepted him as an assistant. The varied work which followed proved of importance in Duveneck’s development. He learned his craft in the next few years, the rough craft of painting on large surfaces. He decorated churches in many different places, even as far away as Canada.

Realizing more and more his artistic ambition and being strongly advised by his fellow decorators to study abroad, he managed to get to Munich, which had at this time taken the place of Diisseldorf as the leading art school in Germany, and entered the Royal Academy. This was in 1870. After working for three months in the Antique Class, Duveneck was admitted, without any of the usual preparatory life drawings, to the painting class of Wilhelm Dietz, one of the radicals among the faculty who had become a professor at the Academy the same year that Duveneck entered. Among his classmates at this time were two who afterwards became famous; one of them being Ludwig Loefftz, later a professor and after that Director of the Munich Academy; and the other, Wilhelm Triibner, who ranks among the strongest modern German painters."

Notes on the Above Paintings
Woman with a Fan, 1873

"Like the romance of a long-forgotten day this lady emerges from 
the dark with her fan, her graceful feathery hat, her quaint ruche, silk 
dress, and black shawl. Asked once in reference to the superb paint- 
ing of her eyes, the depth of them, Duveneck said: " Yes, in those 
days I had eyes like a hawk and yet I painted two days on that one eye 
in the light." 

Whistling Boy, 1872

"The young Duveneck's complete realization of technique, clearness 
of vision, and powerful aim for what is vital in portraiture. Every- 
thing here fairly palpitates with life."

Portrait of William Adams, 1874 
"Note the stately placing of the figure on the canvas, the directness 
of expression with the brush, the subtle values in solid painting."  

Portrait of Professor Ludwig Loefftz, 1873 
"One of the artist's most beautiful works, a portrait all painters love 
for its dignity and completeness."

* Published by Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, copyright 1918
http://archive.org/stream/frankduveneck00heeruoft/frankduveneck00heeruoft_djvu.txt

Frank Duveneck by Norbert Herrmann . Pt. 1

The First in a Series: An Introduction

Portrait of Frank Duveneck by Joseph DeCamp

[Joseph DeCamp’s portrait of Duveneck strongly indicates his physical and mental make-up and harmonizes very well with Mrs. Pennell’s description (page 85). The expression of his eyes and hands in the canvas, suggesting a quietude that to the outsider might mean almost anything, yet to those that know him conveys the feeling of latent power and re- minds one that these blue eyes of his are used to look at things firmly  and to take from them a clear-cut summary of what is there. The portrait is a double tribute of DeCamp to his teacher. It was a work of love, time having been taken from commissions to complete it for a gift  to Cincinnati, where DeCamp was born and received his early art training. It also carries the sign of the latter’s training under Duveneck. A fine piece of characterization ; the person summed it up who said, “ Cut  the hand on the left out and show it to anybody that knows Duveneck  and he will tell you whose hand it is.”]
 
Excerpts from Norbert Herrmann's book, Frank Duveneck:

"After all’s said, Frank Duveneck is the “greatest talent of the brush of this generation.”  These are the words which John Singer Sargent spoke at a dinner given in London in the  early nineties, in a discussion of the merits of such eminent men as Carolus Duran and others. This judgment, deliberately spoken by a man whom artists and laymen alike have come to regard as the most technically brilliant of painters, would not now, any more than it did then, arouse contradiction in a company of artists. Yet to the general public it would come with a shock of surprise. This is in part because Duveneck’s work is not accessible to the general public. Another reason lies in the fact that the greatness of Duveneck’s art is best understood by the student of painting. His style, simple and direct,  is “sans phrase,” without technical tricks for effect, without persuasive story subjects, without even so much self-consciousness as is implied in the word “sentiment.” Of literary association there is none, of doctrine or dogma there is none.

The Rialto, Venice. Etching

 Memorial to Elizabeth Boott Duveneck
This is a copy of the original and is at the Met 

The world of this painter is not history, not imagination, not psychological analysis, not ethics; those fields which our public loves to explore. His compelling interest is in the normal aspect of man and nature, the subjects he chooses are everyday types ; he conceives them in an unpretentious spirit, but transmits them as endowed with quiet power. There is in his work a certain finality of grasp with a dignity, a calm, which to the connoisseur is akin to the serenity of the Greek, while to the multitude it may appear actually commonplace.

That a man of this type should later have been almost lost sight of, except by his intimate circle of artist friends, is not altogether surprising in this country and at a time like the present [this was written in 1918], when change swiftly follows change and is greeted with a clamor that distracts attention from earlier achievement.

The Old Professor, 1871

We owe it to the Duveneck Gallery at the Panama Pacific International Exposition that the full power of this personality has been once more thrown into full relief; and the action of the jury in awarding him a special medal, the highest in its power to bestow, is a timely reminder of the truly classic standard of his work and of its importance in the development of our national school.

To appreciate the effect of his painting, when it was first exhibited over forty years ago, we must remember the lack of national character in the American art of that day. The country was flooded with foreign paintings which inspired our painters to either the sentimental story picture of Dusseldorf lineage, or the dry reflection of other lifeless works.

Only here and there the flicker of independent thought appeared.

• Inness, the father of the naturalistic movement in American landscape, who had just returned from Italy, was beginning to feel his way towards the splendor of his later work. 
• Homer Martin was in more or less an experimental stage, 
• and so was Alexander H. Wyant. 
• John La Farge’s poetic genius was getting ready to express itself with full mastery for the first time in his mural decoration in Trinity Church, Boston (1876), 
• and George Fuller’s noble art was yet hidden from the public, his intimate friends alone knowing that he painted in the intervals of his farm work at Deerfield, Massachusetts. 
• William Morris Hunt was actually the only widely recognized artistic personage at the time. He had opened a studio in Boston in 1862. It proved successful, and his lectures on art, notably the art of his great inspiration Millet, also of Delacroix and Daumier, prepared in that city the most open-minded audience which existed in the country."

* Published by Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, copyright 1918