Page "Cecilia Beaux" Paragraph 12

At 32, despite her clear success in Philadelphia, Beaux decided that she still needed to advance her skills.

She left for Paris with cousin May Whitlock, forsaking several suitors and overcoming the objections of her family.

There she trained at the Académie Julian, the largest art school in Paris, and at the Académie Colarossi, receiving weekly critiques from established masters like Tony Robert-Fleury and William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

She wrote, " Fleury is much less benign than Bouguereau and don't temper his severities … he hinted of possibilities before me and as he rose said the nicest thing of all, ' we will do all we can to help you '… I want these men … to know me and recognize that I can do something.

" Though advised regularly of Beaux ’ s progress abroad and to " not be worried about any indiscretions of ours ", her Aunt Eliza repeatedly reminded her niece to avoid the temptations of Paris, " Remember you are first of all a Christian – then a woman and last of all an Artist.