Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823 – 10 March 1903) was a French-born British artist who specialised in

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...

painting of children and women, typically in rural settings. She began her career as a lithographer and painter of portraits, collaborating with Walter Anderson on portraits of American Episcopal bishops. Her work, ''Elaine'', was the first public collection purchase of a woman artist. Her painting ''No Walk Today'' was purchased for more than £1 million.

Early life

She was born in Paris, the daughter of Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre, a French architect and artist, and his English wife, Marianne Farey (1799–1883), a daughter of John Farey Sr. (1766–1826) and his wife Sophia Hubert (1770–1830). They married at St Pancras Church, London, on 12 April 1818 Her father was born in 1790 and began working as an architect at age 19. He worked primarily in municipal commissions, like the Mint of the City of Cassel, which he designed and built when he was 19. He was injured during the Revolution of 1830 on the same day that his son Philip was born. The family then went to London, where Gengembre worked as an architect for

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (;; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical ...

. He returned to France and continued his work as an architect, designing communal schools around France. The family moved to America and adopted the surname Hubert, because of difficulties in people pronouncing their French surname. After moving to

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

, he settled in

Manchester, Pennsylvania Manchester is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,798 at the 2020 census. History Settled in 1814, the village of Liverpool (now Manchester) was incorporated in 1869 in the eastern section of Manchester ...

. By 1863, he had designed "pro bono" the Allegheny City Hall. He stopped speaking English in protest after he was offered a share of the graft of over-inflated construction costs. They lived in Paris during the early years of Sophie's life, where her father was acquainted with artists, intellectuals, and actors, like

François Joseph Talma François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, Kin ...

. Circumstances required that the family leave Paris and live in a "remote area in France" from 1829 to 1843. At age 17, she developed an interest in art when a travelling portrait painter visited her town. She had two brothers, Philip and Henry. Her brother Philip changed his name to Philip Hubert, using his grandmother's maiden name, and was a successful architect in New York City. She was largely self-taught in art, but briefly studied portrait painting with

Charles de Steuben Charles Auguste Guillaume Steuben (April 18, 1788 – November 21, 1856), also Charles de Steuben, was a German-born French Romantic painter and lithographer active during the Napoleonic Era. Early life De Steuben was born the son of t ...

in about 1843, when she lived with family friends in Paris. Soon after she began her studies, he left for Russia and did not return within the one year allotted for her studies. She did develop relationships with other women artists at the school where she gained a little more instruction.

United States

The family left France for the United States to escape the

1848 revolution The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

. The family first settled in

, where she met her future husband, the British genre artist Walter Anderson. Her brother Henry P. Gengembre (b. 1825) was also an artist, active in Cincinnati in the early 1850s. Her portrait, figure and Brittany landscape paintings were exhibited in October 1849 at the Western Art Union Gallery. Also exhibited was a three panel set of Victorian London scenes entitled ''The Ladder of Love'', which was described as "the lady, in her flowery 'May of Life,' awaits in her father's garden a stolen interview with her lover; in the second, she is seen eagerly caught in his impatient arms, ere he has yet left the ladder upon which he surmounted the garden wall; in the third, having received and given reveals of unfaltering love, she walks alone again – beautiful in the enrobing light of a summer moon, happy in the assurance that the warmth and devotedness of her affection is reciprocated." In 1851 four or more of her illustrations were included in the ''Historical Collections of the Great West'' by Henry Howe. She collaborated with Walter Anderson, her future husband, on portraits of Protestant Episcopal bishops and created other portraits in her business. She then lived in

, with her parents, where she is believed to have married Walter Anderson. She worked there for the chromolithographers Louis Prang & Company.

Europe

In 1854, the Andersons moved to London, where Sophie exhibited a still life of fruit, vegetables, game, and fish entitled ''An American Market Basket'' at the Society of British Artists by 1855. It was considered an "admirable composition" made with "surprising truth". Her genre pieces were also exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

. They returned to Pennsylvania in 1858 for a long visit with her family, during which time she exhibited at the Pittsburgh Artist's Association in 1859 and 1860. The latter year she and her husband had work shown at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the ...

. She then settled in London again around 1863. Sophie Anderson - Elaine - Google Art Project

Anderson's work was widely exhibited at venues including the Royal Academy, the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

(RBA), and the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...

. Her work, ''Elaine'', was one of the first public collection purchases of a living woman artist. The Marquis de Murrieta contributed the painting ''A Fairy Messenger'' to a mixed charity exhibition in 1871. Her oil painting ''Foundling Girls at Prayer in the Chapel'' (mid-c19th – late-c19th) is displayed at the Foundling Museum; correlating well with Anderson's typical genre painting of children and women and the Museum's focus. The painting depicts the varying ages of the foundling girls, what they wore, and references the religious aspects of their life. To manage her health issues, the couple moved to the Isle of Capri in 1871, where they lived, painted, and entertained society in a house with a large garden called Villa Castello. Capri was then an artists colony. Its residents included

Frederic Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjec ...

, Walter McLaren,

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

, Edouard Alexandre Sain, and Jean Benner. She exhibited at the

Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provide ...

between 1878 and 1887. Anderson made Italian genre and Neoclassical paintings, including paintings of peasant women and children. At a time when it was difficult for women to have a successful artistic career, these paintings, generally made by men, allowed for her to have a successful career.

Later years and death

The couple moved to England in 1894 and lived and painted in Wood Lane Cottage in Falmouth, Cornwall. She continued to exhibit her work in London. On 11 January 1903 her husband Walter died and two months later, on 10 March 1903, she died at home in Falmouth. She was buried at Swanvale cemetery in Falmouth in the same grave as her husband.

Legacy

A world record price for her work of more than £1 million was achieved by ''No Walk Today'' at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

, London, in November 2008. It made her "Cornwall's first million-pound female artist." Anderson's work is in the collection of numerous museums and galleries, mainly in the United Kingdom, including Leicester Museum & Art Gallery;

Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum The Russell-Cotes Museum (formally, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum) is an art gallery and museum in Bournemouth, England. A Grade II* listed building originally known as East Cliff Hall, it is located on the top of the East Cliff, next ...

, Bournemouth;

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

;

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

, Liverpool; Birmingham City Art Gallery; Museum and Art Gallery, Walsall, Staffordshire; and the Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Staffordshire.

Gallery

File:SophieAnderson TheTurtleDoveSmall.jpg, ''The Turtle Dove'' File:Anderson, Sophie Gengembre - No Walk Today.jpg, ''No Walk Today'' File:Sophie Gengembre Anderson - Capri Girl with Flowers.jpg, ''Capri Girl with Flowers'' File:Sophie Gengembre Anderson Wait for me.jpg, ''Wait for Me'' File:Sophie Gengembre Anderson - Windfalls.jpg, ''Windfalls'' File:Anderson Sophie Young Girl Fixing Her Hair.jpg, ''Young Girl Fixing Her Hair'' File:Sophie Gengembre Anderson Love in a mist.jpg, ''Love in a Mist'' File:Sophie Gengembre Anderson - An Autumn Princess.jpg, ''An Autumn Princess'' File:LGAnderson.jpg, ''A Spring Beauty'' File:Sophie Gengembre Anderson - It's Touch and Go to Laugh or No.jpg, ''It's Touch and Go to Laugh or No'' (1857) File:Sophie Gengembre Anderson - Her Favorite Pets.jpg, ''Her Favorite Pets'' File:Sophie Gengembre Anderson - The children's book story.jpg, ''The Children's Story Book'' File:SophieAndersonTheHeadOfANymph.jpg, ''The Head of a Nymph'' File:Anderson Sophie Portrait Of Young Girl.jpg, ''Portrait of a Young Girl''

References

External links

Sophie's Cat Paintings

(ArtCyclopedia)
Paintings by Anderson
(ArtMagick)

Sophie Gengembre Anderson's artworks

Sophie Gengembre Anderson's life as an artist

Sophie Anderson's ''Roses'' presented to the Falmouth Art Gallery

Sophie Anderson's ''Elaine'' on display at the Walker Art Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Sophie Gengembre 1823 births 1903 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists 19th-century English women artists Artists from Paris English portrait painters English women painters French people of English descent French emigrants to the United Kingdom French emigrants to the United States Female Pre-Raphaelite painters Pre-Raphaelite painters