author
Clara Erskine Clement Waters
1834–1916
An energetic 19th-century writer and traveler, she helped make art history and mythology approachable for general readers. Her books opened up painting, sculpture, architecture, and legendary subjects to audiences far beyond the classroom.
6 Audiobooks
A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
by Clara Erskine Clement Waters
Angels in Art
by Clara Erskine Clement Waters
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.
by Clara Erskine Clement Waters
A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
by Clara Erskine Clement Waters
Venice : The queen of the Adriatic
by Clara Erskine Clement Waters
A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
by Clara Erskine Clement Waters
About the author
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1834, she became an American author, lecturer, and widely traveled observer of the world. She was educated at home and later lived in Massachusetts, building a long writing career that drew on both study and firsthand travel.
She is especially remembered for popular books on art, including handbooks on mythology, artists, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Rather than writing only for specialists, she worked to explain art clearly for beginners and general readers, which helped her books reach a broad audience in the late 19th century.
Travel also shaped her work. Accounts of journeys in the Middle East, Europe, and around the world informed her writing, giving it a lively, curious tone. She died in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1916, leaving behind a body of work that introduced many readers to the pleasures of art and cultural history.