GEEFS, MME. FANNY ISABELLE MARIE. Born at Brussels. 1814-1883.  Wife of the sculptor, Guillaume Geefs.  A painter of portraits and genre subjects which excel the historical pictures she also painted.  Her “Assumption of the Virgin” is in a church at Waterloo; “Christ Appearing to His Disciples,” in a church at Hauthem.  “The Virgin Consoling the Afflicted” was awarded a medal in Paris, and is in the Hospital of St. John at Brussels.  The “Virgin and Child” was purchased by the Belgian Government.  Her portraits are good, and among her genre subjects the “Young Mother,” the “Sailor’s Daughter,” and “Ophelia” are attractive and artistic in design and execution.

GELDER, LUCIA VAN. Born in Wiesbaden. 1864-1899.  This artist was the daughter of an art dealer, and her constant association as a child with good pictures stimulated her to study.  In Berlin she had lessons in drawing with Liezenmayer, and in color with Max Thedy.  She was also a constant student at the galleries.  She began to work independently when eighteen, and a number of her pictures achieved great popularity, being reproduced in many art magazines.  “The Little Doctor,” especially, in which a boy is feeling, with a grave expression of knowledge, the pulse of his sister’s pet kitten, has been widely copied in photographs, wood-engravings, and in colors.  She repeated the picture in varying forms.  She died in Munich, where she was favorably known through such works as “The Village Barber,” “Contraband,” “The Wonderful Story,” “At the Sick Bed,” and “The Violin Player,” the last painted the year before her death.

GENTILESCHI, ARTEMISIA. 1590-1642.  A daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, whom she accompanied to England when he was invited to the court of Charles I. Artemisia has been called the pupil, and again the friend, of Guido Reni.  Whatever the relation may have been, there is no doubt that the manner of her painting was influenced by Guido, and also by her study of the works of Domenichino.

Wagner says that she excelled her father in portraits, and her own likeness, in the gallery at Hampton Court, is a powerful and life-like picture.  King Charles had several pictures from her hand, one of which, “David with the Head of Goliath,” was much esteemed.  Her “Mary Magdalene” and “Judith with the Head of Holofernes” are in the Pitti Palace.  The latter work is a proof of her talent.  Lanzi says:  “It is a picture of strong coloring, of a tone and intensity which inspires awe.”  Mrs. Jameson praised its execution while she regretted its subject.

[Illustration:  Alinari, Photo.

In the Pitti Gallery, Florence

JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES

ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI]

Her picture of the “Birth of John the Baptist,” in the Gallery of the Prado, is worthy of attention, even in that marvellous collection, where is also her “Woman Caressing Pigeons.”  The Historical Society of New York has her picture of “Christ among the Doctors.”