an enormous middle class. Paris is their Mecca, but they are known in all
art centres, and it is by no means unusual for an artist to study under
Dutch, German, and Italian masters, as well as French.

The present method of study in Paris--in such academies as that of Julian
and the Colarossi--secures to the student the criticism and advice of the
best artists of the day, while in summer--in the country and by the
sea--there are artistic colonies in which students lead a delightful
life, still profiting by the instruction of eminent masters.

Year by year the opportunities for art-study by women have been increased
until they are welcome in the schools of the world, with rare exceptions.
The highest goal seems to have been reached by their admission to the
competition for the _Grand prix de Rome_ conferred by _l'École des Beaux
Arts_.

I regret that the advantages of the American Art Academy in Rome are not
open to women. The fact that for centuries women have been members and
professors in the Academy of St. Luke, and in view of the recent action
of _l'École des Beaux Arts_, this narrowness of the American Academy in
the Eternal City is especially pronounced.

One can but approve the encouragement afforded women artists in France,
by the generosity with which their excellence is recognized.

To be an officer in the French Academy is an honor surpassed in France by
that of the Legion of Honor only. Within a twelvemonth two hundred and
seventy-five women have been thus distinguished, twenty-eight of them
being painters and designers. From this famous Academy down, through the
International Expositions, the Salons, and the numberless exhibitions in