Studio: international art (36.1906)

The Staats Forbes Collection

FIG. 15. MODERN LACE AS MADE IN LACE-SCHOOLS

the same motifs are used as in the Slav embroideries
and lacework, with the addition of what seems to
be a double peacock (or perhaps a double eagle)
worked in a jour embroidery. The ornamentation
contains both northern and southern elements,
but the lace border is pre-eminently Slavonic,
the patterns being common to this day in the Slav
districts bordering on Hungary.

In Fig. 13 is shown part of a Ruthenian sleeve,
such as the men wear to this day on their shirts.
The pattern is a very ancient one, and is part and
parcel of the national costume still worn. It is
embroidered in wool on hand-made linen, the holes
being pierced with a bodkin. This is a very fine
specimen, and seems to have been made by some-
one with a practised hand and a trained eye. There
are many kinds of like embroidery ; in some the
holes are square, such being cut with the knife and
worked either in wool or thread; in all cases, how-
ever, it is called lace when worked in white and
embroidery when done in colours.

The many uses lace is put to is quite astonishing,
and it is always used in its right place. There are
lace edges to sleeves, lace ruffs for the neck, lace
aprons, lace petticoats, lace on bed-linen and on
shelves. It is the peasant woman’s chief adorn-
ment, and happy is she who possesses a store; it
counts to her riches, as a priceless lace would to
the greatest ladies in the land. When not in use
for the purpose destined, it is safely kept under
lock and key in the marriage-chest which the
bride takes to her new home, and which stands
by the bedside, where she can always have an
eye on it.

It is a pity that the old costumes are giving way
to modern modes in all directions, for the peasants
look so much superior in their national garments ;
and it gives them a dignity peculiar to themselves—

DESIGNED BY FRL. HOFMANNINGER

a dignity which is lost, or at least not recognisable,
when they conform to modern dress.

A. S. Levetus.

The staats forbes collec-
tion.—third AND CONCLU-
DING ARTICLE. BY E. G.
HALTON.

In the world of art the name of Mr. Staats
Forbes will always be associated with his extensive
collection of Barbizon and modern Dutch pictures.
It must not be forgotten, however, that he also
acquired many works by French and English
artists who may be said to express the more
advanced forms of modern art, or who are to a
certain extent the outcome of the French romantic
movement. At the time of his death his collection
consisted of something like three thousand pictures,
and of these many were by artists who have not
yet obtained any great share of public success.
However obscure the artist, he won recognition at
the hands of Mr Staats Forbes if his work showed
sincerity and earnestness and an endeavour to
attain a true artistic result. It was his recreation
to interest himself in these unknown men,
encouraging and helping them to develop the best
in themselves, and his timely and practical apprecia-
tion was often the means ot stimulating afresh
many an artist whose faith in himself was beginning
to falter. To be represented in such a collection,
to be understood by so shrewd a connoisseur, was
in itself an honour not to be despised.

Mr. Staats Forbes confined himself to no
particular school, but selected such works as to his
mind possessed those qualities which make for the
advancement of true art, and he often protested
against the prolific output of mediocre work as