Page:Women in the Fine Arts From the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentiet.djvu/509

388 of old legends. The landscape and people of her native land seem to her as eminently suitable motives, and these realities she renders in the spirit of a by-gone age—that of the national heroes of the sagas and epics of the country, or the lyric atmosphere of the folk-songs.

She may depict these conceptions, full of feeling, in the dull colors of the North, or in rich and glowing hues, but the impression she gives is much the same in both cases, a generally restful effect, though the faces in her pictures are full of life and emotion. Her choice of subjects and her manner of treatment almost inevitably introduce some archaic quality in her work. This habit and the fact that she cares more for color than for drawing are the usual criticisms of her pictures.

Her "St. Agnes" is an interesting rendering of a well-worn subject. "Adelil the Proud," exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1889, tells the story of the Duke of Frydensburg, who was in love with Adelil, the king's daughter. The king put him to death, and the attendants of Adelil made of his heart a viand which they presented to her. When she learned what this singular substance was—that caused her to tremble violently—she asked for wine, and carrying the cup to her lips with a tragic gesture, in memory of her lover, she died of a broken heart. It is such legends as these that Mme. Slott-Möller revives, and by which she is widely known.

Morisot or Morizot, Berthe. Married name Manet, Born at Bourges, 1840, died in Paris, 1895. A pupil of Guichard and Oudinot. After her marriage to Eugène Manet she came under the influence of his famous brother,