Mme. Adelheid Salles-Wagner, born in 1825 in Dresden, is the elder of two sisters, both of whom are well-known painters. Her family name is Wagner. Her sister Elise, who became Madame Puyroche, devoted herself to flower painting. Adelheid studied the figure, first at the Dresden Academy and later under Jacquand and Cogniet in Paris. There she met and married the well-known artist Jules Salles, a native of Nimes and pupil of Paul Delaroche. Mme. Salles-Wagner made her first successes with portraits, in oil and in pastel, and then produced a series of mythological and religious pictures of rare merit. In her present picture, the chast Arethusa, persecuted by the persistent attentions of the love smitten Arcadian river-god Alpheius, prays to Diana for protection against his unwelcome importunities, and is being changed by her into the magic fountain of Artygia.

One of the most distinguished artistic figures of our time is that of Charles Auguste Emile Duran, or, as he has chosen to Latinize and abreviate his name, Carolus Duran. He was born at Lille in 1837, and first studied there under the direction of the old painter Souchon. Souchon was famous as a copyist of the old masters, and he impressed their study on his pupil as more valuable than the direct instruction of any living artist. The youth made rapid progress under his advice, and in 1853 went to Paris, where he appears to have subsisted by the sale of his copies, doing little other painting, but associating much with other art students.

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Chapter 8 Text

Fritz Zuber-Buhler