A female etcher of the Second Empire: Frederique Emilie O'Connell
A good artistic quiz question would be: What nationality was Fr�d�rique �milie O'Connell? The answer is neither French nor Irish, but German. The painter and etcher Fr�d�rique �milie Auguste O'Connell, n�e Miethe, was born in Potsdam in 1823 and died in Paris in 1885. An early devotion to drawing marked her out for an artistic career, and at the age of 18 she went to Berlin to study under Charles Joseph B�gas. She then continued her studies in Brussels, where she married in 1844. In 1853 she settled in Paris, establishing an atelier in Montmartre. Fr�d�rique �milie O'Connell threw herself with fervour into the artistic and social life of Paris, and her salon was frequented by writers as well as artists, notably Alexandre Dumas fils and Th�ophile Gautier. She also took many female students, and the prospectus of her course of studies is given in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 15 Novembre 1859. Fr�d�rique �milie O'Connell: Prospectus of studies She exhibited at the Paris Sal