Cornelia Ellis Hildebrandt (September 7, 1876 – March 18, 1962) was an American artist particularly known for her

portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

s. One of the last surviving figures from the revival of miniature painting in America at the turn of the 20th century, she lectured extensively on the genre in her later years.Aronson, Julie and Wieseman, Marjorie (2006)
"Cornelia Ellis Hildebrandt"
''Perfect Likeness: European And American Portrait Miniatures from the Cincinnati Art Museum'', p. 207. Yale University Press.

Life

Hildebrandt was born Cornelia Trumbull Ellis in

Eau Claire, Wisconsin Eau Claire (; ) (French for "clear water") is a city mostly located in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat, and with a small portion in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. It had a population of 69,421 in 2020, making it the stat ...

, the daughter of Arthur Cadwalader and Eliza (Potter) Ellis. She studied at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

and then spent two years in Paris (1897–1898), where she studied at the Académie Colarossi and with Augustus Koopman and Virginia Richmond Reynolds. During her time there she met the American portrait artist Howard Logan Hildebrandt, who would later become her husband. His painting ''Miss C'' is thought to be portrait of her. On her return from Paris she had a studio in Chicago for a while, but after her marriage to Howard Hildebrandt on September 3, 1902, the couple settled in New York City. By 1912 she had established her career as a miniaturist with a solo exhibition of 15 of her paintings at the

Worcester Art Museum The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ranks among th ...

. She was a member of the

American Society of Miniature Painters The American Society of Miniature Painters (ASMP) was an association of miniature painters, organized in March 1899. The ten founding members of the ASMP included Virginia Richmond Reynolds, Isaac A. Josephi, William Jacob Baer, Alice Beckington ...

and the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors at whose exhibitions she was awarded numerous medals. During the 1930s she was also a member of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

Museum of Wisconsin Art The Museum of Wisconsin Art (formerly the West Bend Art Museum) is a museum that collects and exhibits contemporary and historical art from the state of Wisconsin. Its collections include rotating historical and contemporary exhibitions and educati ...

Cornelia Ellis Hildebrandt (1876 - 1962)
. Retrieved 28 March 2013. Cornelia and Howard Hildebrandt spent much of their later years at their summer home in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...

. Howard Hildebrandt died in 1958. Cornelia died in New Canaan four years later at the age of 85.

References

1876 births 1962 deaths 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters Portrait miniaturists American women painters Painters from Wisconsin People from Eau Claire, Wisconsin 20th-century American women artists 19th-century American women artists Académie Colarossi alumni School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni {{US-painter-1870s-stub