Fraeulein Parmentier also studied etching, in which art Unger was her instructor.  In her exquisite architectural pictures and landscapes she has represented Italian motives almost exclusively.  Among these are her views of Venice and other South Italian sketches, which are also the subjects of some of her etchings.

BELLE, MLLE. ANDREE. Member of the Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts.  Born in Paris.  Pupil of Cazin.  Paints in oils and pastels, landscapes especially, of which she exhibited seventeen in June, 1902.  The larger part of these were landscape portraits, so to speak, as they were done on the spots represented with faithfulness to detail.  The subjects were pleasing, and the various hours of day, with characteristic lighting, unusually well rendered.

At the Salon des Beaux Arts, 1902, this artist exhibited a large pastel, “A Halt at St. Mammes” and a “Souvenir of Bormes,” showing the tomb of Cazin.  In 1903 she exhibited a pastel called “Calvary,” now in the Museum at Amiens, which has been praised for its harmony of color and the manner in which the rainbow is represented.  Her pictures of “Twilight” and “Sunset” are unusually successful.

BENATO-BELTRAMI, ELISABETTA. Painter and sculptor of the nineteenth century, living in Padua since 1858.  Her talent, which showed itself early, was first developed by an unknown painter named Soldan, and later at the Royal Academy in Venice.  She made copies of Guido, Sassoferrato and Veronese, the Laokoon group, and the Hercules of Canova, and executed a much-admired bas-relief called “Love and Innocence.”  Among her original paintings are an “Atala and Chactas,” “Petrarch’s First Meeting with Laura,” a “Descent from the Cross” for the church at Tribano, a “St. Sebastian,” “Melancholy,” a “St. Ciro,” and many Madonnas.  Her pictures are noble in conception and firm in execution.

BENITO Y TEJADA, BENITA. Born in Bilboa, where she first studied drawing; later she went to Madrid, where she entered the Escuela superior.  In the Exposition of 1876 at Madrid “The Guardian” was shown, and in 1881 a large canvas representing “The First Step.”

BERNHARDT, SARAH. In 1869 this famous actress watched Mathieu-Meusnier making a bust.  She made her criticisms and they were always just.  The sculptor told her that she had the eye of an artist and should use her talent in sculpture.  Not long after she brought to him a medallion portrait of her aunt.  So good was it that Mathieu-Meusnier seriously encouraged her to persevere in her art.  She was fascinated by the thought of what might be possible for her, took a studio, and sent to the Salon in 1875 a bust, which attracted much attention.  In 1876 she exhibited “After the Tempest,” the subject taken from the story of a poor woman who, having buried two sons, saw the body of her last boy washed ashore after a storm.  This work was marvellously effective, and a great future as a sculptress was foretold for the “divine Sara.”  At the Salon of 1878 she exhibited two portrait busts in bronze.