setting,--the unique hand-work of some
goldsmith of genius. It is impossible to forget her distinguished
appearance as she entered the room in a princess gown, made to show the
outline of her faultless figure, and cut very low. Against the
background of her white neck and the simple lines of her blue gown, the
sapphires became decoration with artistic restraint, though they gleamed
from a coronet in her soft, black hair, encircled her neck many times
and fell below her waist line, clasped her arms and were suspended from
her ears in long, graceful pendants. They adorned her fingers and they
composed a girdle of indescribable beauty.

PLATE XI

MARIE ANTOINETTE IN A PORTRAIT BY MADAME VIGEE LE
BRUN, one of the greatest portrait painters of the
eighteenth century. Here we see the lovely queen of Louis
XVI in the type of costume she made her own which is still
referred to as the Marie Antoinette style.

This portrait is in the Musee National, Versailles.

[Illustration: _Courtesy of Braun & Co., New York, London & Paris_
_Bourbon France Marie Antoinette Portrait by Madame Vigee Le Brun_]

Later, the same night, one would meet this woman at a ball, and
discover that she had made a complete change of costume and was as
elegant as before, but now all in red, a gown of deep red velvet or some
wonderful soft satin, unadorned save by her rubies, as numerous and as
unique as her sapphires had been.

There were other women in Madrid wearing wonderful jewels, one of them
when going to court functions always had a carriage follow hers, in
which were detectives. How strange this seems to Americans! But this
particular woman in no way illustrated the point we would make, for she
had lost control of her own lines, had no knowledge of line and colour
in costume, and when wearing her jewels, looked very much like the show
case of a jeweller's shop.

Jewelry must be worn to make lines, continue or terminate lines,
accentuate a good physical point, or hide a bad one. Remember that a
jewel like any other _object d'art_, is an ornament, and unless it is
ornamental, and an added attraction to the wearer, it is valueless in a
decorative way. For this reason it is well to discover, by
experimenting, what jewelry is your affair, what kind of rings for
example, are best suited to your kind of hands. It may be that small
rings of delicate workmanship, set with colourless gems, will suit your
hands;