Trying to find painter named Therese...
 

I recently viewed the permanent exhibition at the Musee des Beaux Artes in Montreal. There was a painting there that blew me away, by an artist whose first name was Therese. I can't believe it, but I have forgotten her last name! The painting was very large, maybe 60+" x 36" or so, mostly grays in the background, and the subject was a mother with two children. They were dressed in traditional Dutch costume, and the style was very realistic, but somewhat loose. If anyone has seen this painting in its current location, it hangs on a wall immediately to the right of William Bougereau's "Crown of Flowers", in the European Masters section.

I have emailed the museum asking for this information, but haven't heard back from them. Any suggestions, anyone?

Thank you,
Susan Kuban

Therese
 

Susan,
I have never seen the painting you've mentioned, but the artist sounds like it could be Therese Schwartze (1851-1918). Schwartze is a Dutch artist, and I was fortunate to see several of her paintings around Amsterdam last fall. She is best known for painting the portraits of the daily life of the young woman in a latter 19th century orphanage. The girls dressed in black dresses with sheer collars, head pieces, and sleeves. Her work was wonderful, painterly, and she had a tremendously accomplished sense of complex composition.

That fall, I saw an incredible amount of art in trips to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, and London, and it was taking an increasingly notable artist to impress me toward the end of the trip. Her paintings did that and more. I looked throughout book stores in Amsterdam, and found only a few postcards with her works on them. No books, no catalogs. I, also, would be interested in any information on Therese Schwartze. I am afraid that she is like Ivan Kramskoi (Russian) or Jan Matayko (Polish), incredible artists lost in the history books, overshadowed by lesser artists with better publicists.

Thanks, Peggy
 

Thanks, Peggy, for your help. I looked her up on the web and found very little. I found only two pictures of her work, one small and black and white and one in color. (Link provided.)

http://www.lakenhal.nl/catalog/s1055_e.htm

Neither of the paintings had the impact of the one I saw. It was approximately life size of a mother and her two children. The faces were so alive, and enhanced because of the drab, gray building in the background. Anyway, thanks again, for filling in that one (of many) little hole in my brain!

Susan

I just did a search in Google and perhaps this is the painting you're seeking Susan:

http://www.mbam.qc.ca/lundi/ancien-l.../lundi105.html