n copper and brass all lent their colors and effects to
enhance the attractions of the place. Many persons of rank and genius
were among the friends of the artist and she was much in society.

In spite of all her talent and all her success the end of Madame
O'Connell's life was sad beyond expression. Her health suffered, her
reason tottered and faded out, yet life remained and she was for years in
an asylum for the insane. Everything that had surrounded her in her Paris
home was sold at auction. No time was given and no attempt was made to
bring her friends together. No one who had known or loved her was there
to shed a tear or to bear away a memento of her happy past. All the
beautiful things of which we have spoken were sacrificed and scattered as
unconscionably as if she had never loved or her friends enjoyed them.

In the busy world of Paris no one remembered the brilliant woman who had
flashed upon them, gained her place among them, and then disappeared.
They recalled neither her genius nor her womanly qualities which they had
admired, appreciated, and so soon forgotten!

<b>OOSTERWYCK, MARIA VAN.</b> The seventeenth century is remarkable for the
perfection attained in still-life and flower painting. The most famous
masters in this art were William van Aelst of Delft, the brothers De Heem
of Utrecht, William Kalf and the Van Huysums of Amsterdam. The last of
this name, however, Jan van Huysum, belongs to the next century.

Maria van Oosterwyck and Rachel Ruysch disputed honors with the above
named and are still famous for their talents.

The former was a daughter of a preacher of the reformed religion. She was
born at Nootdorp, near Delft, in 1630. She was the pupil of Jan David de
Heem, and her pictures were remarkable for accuracy in drawing, fine
coloring, and an admirable finish.

Louis XIV. of France, William III. of England, the Emperor Leopold of
Germany, and Augustus I. of Poland gave her commissions for pictures.
Large prices were paid her in a most deferential manner, as if the
tributes of friendship rather than the reward of labor, and to these
generous sums were added gifts of jewels and other precious objects.

Of Maria van Oosterwyck Kugler writes: "In my opinion she does not occupy
that place in the history of the art of this period that she deserves,
which may be partly owing to the rarity of her pictures, especially in
public galleries. For although her flower pieces are weak in arrangemen