BOSBOOM-TOUSSAINT

bosboom-toussaint, anna louisa geertruida (1812-1886), dutch novelist, was born at alkmaar in north holland on the 16th of september 1812. her father, named toussaint, a local chemist of huguenot descent, gave her a fair education, and at an early period of her career she developed a taste for historical research, fostered, perhaps, by a forced indoor life, the result of weak health. in 1851 she married the dutch painter, johannes bosboom (1817-1891), and thereafter was known as mrs bosboom-toussaint. her first romance, _almagro_, appeared in 1837, followed by the _graaf van devonshire_ (_the earl of devonshire_) in 1838; the _engelschen te rome_ (_the english at rome_) in 1840, and _het huis lauernesse (the house of lauernesse_) in 1841, an episode of the reformation, translated into many european languages. these stories, mainly founded upon some of the most interesting epochs of dutch history, betrayed a remarkable grasp of facts and situations, combined with an undoubted mastery over her mother tongue, though her style is sometimes involved, and not always faultless. ten years (1840-1850) were mainly devoted to further studies, the result of which was revealed in 1851-1854, when her _leycester in nederland_ (3 vols.), _vrouwen van het leycestersche tydperk (women of leicester's epoch_, 3 vols.), and _gideon florensz_ (3 vols.) appeared, a series dealing with robert dudley's adventures in the low countries. after 1870 mrs bosboom-toussaint abandoned historical romance for the modern society novel, but her _delftsche wonderdokter (the necromancer of delft_, 1871, 3 vols.) and _majoor frans_ (1875, 3 vols.) did not command the success of her earlier works. _major frank_ has been translated into english (1885). she died at the hague on the 13th of april 1886. her novels have been published there in a collected edition (1885-1888, 25 vols.).