Studio: international art (9.1897)

The Sampler

always the desired goal.
jvjt >*—j With every improvement

Uu^-j in mere technique, the

LJj tendency is always to-

wards pictorial versions of
f s |1 objects, with recognition

"v of shading, perspective,

| v // and other qualities that

belong, or should belong,
„»y vv exclusively to pictorial
f) art. But this example is
/T * a vivid record of the
S charm which the most
X j :S, simple design preserves

^or ever> so l°nS as ^ does

" not seek to controvert the

'"*(vi \v>. « direct method of its pro-

"iS/ duction. Every one of

-,C, | ) fj its neat stitches is a

>^ /T'S mathematical affair—no

W k? Hi' "feeling" can be traced,

J. 110 " handling." It is just

■a] skilled human mechan-

^.. rA ism. And yet lowly as its

f/£ technique may be, and the

^# ''—J work of a simple-minded,

(^)J y-, artless girl (probably), it

/^J fJj$ retains a certain charm

^•mQ which is absent often

'-'J1' enough in far more mar-

af / FJ vellous embroidering. It
is not with a hope that

[Hf any art student will draw

. '?2 % ** of the fiie* from pompous I little trees like these, or

I" ^ |» Wall, v,rUe ^ dweHi he^f ''f^/ 8 CarVe' °r PaintJhem' that

ii. '"'ti 'w. JufXi >v~'^ one recommends a serious

•xj h| ^'-t^'^^-^'^-^^^ -.jpv [4 study of this sampler, but

MJR If ^ %vf 499+ only to show that its

£ff /' A iU maker, consciously or un-

SfJ Martha * Brown ■*4f~- |§ i^Sj consciously, never tried

, /78£i Wp (if we except her marvel-

frtf^f. F%^r*>i ^riw!^] h do more than she could

. ; J^j#V ,-CJ accomplish, and did that

little so well that to-day

THE SAMPLER OF MARTHA BROWN 1 78o her work affords genuine

pleasure, even to one
fairly well acquainted with

of the official handbooks to old embroideries pub- most of the best examples of decoration the last
lished in Japan, one finds so many motives abso- dozen years have produced.

lutely identical with those of western nations that The sampler of Martha Brown in 1780 is
to refer the source of all these widely distributed vitiated by the sham classicism of its time. Poor
devices to any known origin would be folly. little Martha, can we not imagine the human ab-

Be that as it may, the delightfully stiff flowers horrence with which she added stitch to stitch, until
in pots, and the basket character of the latter, the didactic quatrains were duly wrought ? Let us
are distinctly in the manner of the Anglo-Dutch hope the very angular Cupids who surmount this
style, which has of late been called Queen Anne. chaste eulogy of virtue gave her some joy. The
In appreciating the frank obedience to the border is obviously a good copy ; but the decor-
angular forms imposed by the stitch, we need not ation of the " field " betrays the modern attempts
give too much credit to the worker. For as later at realism which confront us as " high-art " on the
examples show, a false imitation of Nature is walls of 1890 no less frequently than in 1780.

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