KOKER, ANNA MARIA DE. A Dutch etcher and engraver of the seventeenth century, who pursued her art from pure love of it, never trying to make her works popular or to sell them.  A few of her landscapes fell into the hands of collectors and are much valued for their rarity and excellence.  Three examples are the “Landscape with a View of a Village,” “The Square Tower,” and “Huts by the Water.”

KOMLOSI, IRMA. Born in Prague, 1850.  Pupil of Friederich Sturm.  This flower painter resides in Vienna, where her pictures are much appreciated and are seen in good collections.  They have been purchased for the Art Associations of Bruenn, Prague, and Budapest.

KONDELKA, BARONESS PAULINE VON—­Frau von Schmerling.  Born at Vienna. 1806-1840.  She inherited from her father a strong inclination for art, and was placed by him under the instruction of Franz Potter.  In the Royal Gallery, Vienna, is her picture called “Silence,” 1834.  It represents the Virgin with her finger on her lip to warn against disturbing the sleep of the Infant Jesus.  The picture is surrounded by a beautiful arrangement of flowers.  In 1836 she painted a charming picture called “A Bunch of Flowers.”  Her favorite subjects were floral, and her works of this sort are much admired.

KONEK, IDA. Born at Budapest, 1856.  Her early art studies were under G. Vastagh, C. von Telepy, W. Lindenschmit, and Munkacsy; later she was a pupil at the Julian Academy in Paris and the Scuola libera in Florence.  In the Parish Church at Koeboelkut are three of her pictures of sacred subjects, and in the Hungarian National Museum a picture of still-life.  Her “Old Woman,” 1885, is mentioned as attracting favorable notice.

KORA OR CALLIRHOE. It is a well-authenticated fact that in the Greek city of Sicyonia, about the middle of the seventh century before Christ, there lived the first woman artist of whom we have a reliable account.

Her story has been often told, and runs in this wise:  Kora, or Callirhoe, was much admired by the young men of Sicyonia for her grace and beauty, of which they caught but fleeting glimpses through her veil when they met her in the flower-market.  By reason of Kora’s attraction the studio of her father, Dibutades, was frequented by many young Greeks, who watched for a sight of his daughter, while they praised his models in clay.

At length one of these youths begged the modeller to receive him as an apprentice, and, his request being granted, he became the daily companion of both Kora and her father.  As the apprentice was skilled in letters, it soon came about that he was the teacher and ere long the lover of the charming maiden, who was duly betrothed to him.

The time for the apprentice to leave his master came all too soon.  As he sat with Kora the evening before his departure, she was seized by an ardent wish for a portrait of her lover, and, with a coal from the brazier, she traced upon the wall the outline of the face so dear to her.  This likeness her father instantly recognized, and, hastening to bring his clay, he filled in the sketch and thus produced the first portrait in bas-relief!  It is a charming thought that from the inspiration of a pure affection so beautiful an art originated, and doubtless Kora’s influence contributed much to the artistic fame which her husband later achieved in Corinth.