Want of space forbids any special mention of etching, metal work, enamelling, designing, and decorative work in many directions in which women in great numbers are engaged; indeed, in what direction can we look in which women are not employed—­I believe I may say by thousands—­in all the minor arts?  Between the multitude that pursue the Fine Arts and kindred branches for a maintenance—­and are rarely heard of—­and those fortunate ones who are commissioned to execute important works, there is an enormous middle class.  Paris is their Mecca, but they are known in all art centres, and it is by no means unusual for an artist to study under Dutch, German, and Italian masters, as well as French.

The present method of study in Paris—­in such academies as that of Julian and the Colarossi—­secures to the student the criticism and advice of the best artists of the day, while in summer—­in the country and by the sea—­there are artistic colonies in which students lead a delightful life, still profiting by the instruction of eminent masters.

Year by year the opportunities for art-study by women have been increased until they are welcome in the schools of the world, with rare exceptions.  The highest goal seems to have been reached by their admission to the competition for the Grand prix de Rome conferred by l’Ecole des Beaux Arts.

I regret that the advantages of the American Art Academy in Rome are not open to women.  The fact that for centuries women have been members and professors in the Academy of St. Luke, and in view of the recent action of l’Ecole des Beaux Arts, this narrowness of the American Academy in the Eternal City is especially pronounced.

One can but approve the encouragement afforded women artists in France, by the generosity with which their excellence is recognized.

To be an officer in the French Academy is an honor surpassed in France by that of the Legion of Honor only.  Within a twelvemonth two hundred and seventy-five women have been thus distinguished, twenty-eight of them being painters and designers.  From this famous Academy down, through the International Expositions, the Salons, and the numberless exhibitions in various countries, a large proportion of medals and other honors are conferred on women, who, having now been accorded all privileges necessary for the pursuit of art and for its recompense, will surely prove that they richly merit every good that can be shared with them.

AARESTRUP, MARIE HELENE. Born at Flekkefjord, Norway, 1829.  She made her studies in Bergen, under Reusch; under Tessier in Paris; and Vautier in Duesseldorf.  She excelled in genre and portrait painting.  Her “Playing Child” and “Shepherd Boy” are in the Art Union in Christiania; the “Interior of Hotel Cluny” and a “Flower Girl” are in the Museum at Gottenburg.

ABBATT, AGNES DEAN. Bronze medal, Cooper Union; silver medal, Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics’ Association.  Member of American Water Color Society.