Montalba, Clara (1842–1929)
Montalba, Clara (1842–1929)
English artist. Born in Cheltenham, England, in 1842; died in 1929; eldest of four daughters of Antony Montalba and Emiline Montalba; studied with Eugene Isabey in Paris for four years; sister of artists Henrietta Skerrett Montalba (1856–1893), Ellen Montalba (fl. 1868–1902), and Hilda Montalba (d. 1919).
English landscape and marine painter Clara Montalba was made associate of the London Society of Painters in Water Colors in 1874 and of the Belgian Society in 1876. However, Montalba felt most at home in Venice, where she lived for many years. Among her works are several Venetian scenes and one of the port of Amsterdam. One art reviewer compared her to Corot. "Like the great Frenchman," he wrote, "Miss Montalba strives to interpret the sadder moods of Nature—when the wind moves the water a little mournfully, and the outlines of the objects become uncertain in the filmy air." Her sisters Ellen and Hilda were portrait and figure painters. Her other sister, Henrietta Skerrett Montalba , was a sculptor.