BROOKS, ROMAINE (1874-1970), U.S. Painter

Brooks lived most of her life in Europe where she gained recognition for her bold, distinctively stylized portraits of various celebrates of her day, including Jean Cacteau, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Ida Rubinstein, and Lady Una Trowbridge. In 1915, she met and became lovers with Parisian writer and salon hostess Natalie Barney. The relationship lasted for more that fifty years. It ended abruptly when both women were well into their nineties: Brooks, in a fit of jealousy and bitter resentment, became incensed over Barney's sexual interest in the 69-year-old wife of a retired Romanian diplomat and vowed never to see Barney or speak to her
again. Maintaining her silence to the end, Brooks died a year and a half later; Barney survived her by barely thirteen months.