Sophie Gengembre Anderson
| Sophie Gengembre Anderson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Sophie Gengembre 1823 Paris, France |
| Died | 10 March 1903 Falmouth, Cornwall, England |
| Resting place | Falmouth Cemetery at Swanvale, Falmouth, England 50°8′46.08″N 5°4′38.73″W / 50.1461333°N 5.0774250°WCoordinates: 50°8′46.08″N 5°4′38.73″W / 50.1461333°N 5.0774250°W |
| Nationality | French-born Britain |
| Education | Charles de Steuben |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work | No Walk Today, The children's storybook, Elaine and others |
| Movement | Neoclassism, Italian genre paintings |
| Spouse(s) | Walter Anderson |
Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823 – 10 March 1903) was a French-born British artist who specialised in genre 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.
Sophie was born in Paris, the daughter of Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre, a French architect and artist, and his English wife, whose maiden name was Hubert.
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. Circumstances required that the family leave Paris and live in a "remote area in France" from 1829 to 1843. At seventeen she developed an interest in art when a travelling portrait painter visited her town.
She had two brothers, Philip and Henry P. Gengembre. Her brother Philip changed his name to Philip Hubert, using his mother's maiden name, and was a successful architect in New York City. She was largely self-taught in art, but briefly studied portraiture with Charles de Steuben 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.
The family left France for the United States to escape the 1848 revolution, first settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she met her future husband British genre artist Walter Anderson. Her brother Henry P. Gengembre (b. 1825) was also an artist, active in Cincinnati in the early 1850s.
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