Rose Hartwell (1861-1917), The Frugal Meal, 1903, Oil on canvas, 79 1/8 x 63 ¼ inches, Brigham Young University Museum of Art, 1941.
This week we celebrate the birth and life of Rose Hartwell, born in Salt Lake City on November 10, 1861. In her early twenties, Hartwell began studying art under two well-established local artists, J.T. Harwood and J. Willard Clawson. With their encouragement, she traveled to Paris to study at the Académie Julian, a progressive art school that was the first to enroll female students. While abroad, she spent 18 months traveling through Italy, gaining experiences that inspired this scene of an Italian family eating a humble pasta meal. With its appealing peasant subject and fine execution, this painting was later accepted for display in the prestigious Paris Salon. This work is currently on exhibition in Treasures from the Collection, through July 3, 2021.