suggestion
from the style of that which he is to adorn, remembering the
antecedent motives of its form, its history, and its date. He should
try to make his new work harmonize with the old; but of one thing he
may be certain--unless he absolutely copies an old design, his own
will carry the visible and unmistakable stamp of his day.

Even while suggesting copies this difficulty arises--how can a perfect
facsimile be obtained? No reproduction is ever really exact, unless
cast off by the hundred, stamped or printed by a machine.

It has been said that the translator of a poem adds to, or takes from
the original, that which he has or has not of the same poetical power;
and in art the copy requires the same qualities to guide the hand that
transmits the original motive to another material. An artist usually
carries out his own ideas from the first sketch blocked out on the
canvas, or scribbled on the bit of waste paper, to the last finishing
touch. It is, as far as it can be in human art, the visible transcript
of his own thought. In needlework this can hardly ever be. The
designer, whether he be St. Dunstan, Pollaiolo, Torrigiano, or Walter
Crane, only executes a drawing which leaves his hands for good, and is
translated into embroidery by the patient needlewoman who simply fills
in an outline, ignorant of art, unappreciative of its subtleties, and
incapable of giving life and expression, even when she is aware that
they are indicated in the original design. This is almost always the
case; but there are exceptions. Charlemagne's dalmatic, for instance,
shows signs of having been either the work of the artist himself, or
else carried out under his immediate supervision.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] Boyd Dawkins' "Early Man in Britain," p. 285. See
also chapter on stitches (_post_), p. 195.

[16] Some of these styles survive; some are still
perceptible as traditions or echoes; some have totally
disappeared in our modern art, such as the Primitive or
the Egyptian.

[17] See Semper, "Der Stil."

[18] The history of Gaul begins in the 7th, and that of
Britain in the 1st century B.C., while the civilization
of Egypt dates back to more than 4000 B.C.; therefore
the historical overlap is very great. It is probable
that a large portion of Europe was in its neolithic age,
while the scribes were composing their records of war
and commerce in the great cities on the Nile, and t