Art Embroidery : a Treatise on the Revived Practice of
Decorative Needlework. By M. S. Lockwood and E. Glaister. With Nineteen Plates, printed in colours by Thomas Crane. (Marcus Ward.)— When women come to share all the occupations and professions of
men, there will be no leisure, it is to be supposed, for fancy work. Till that time arrives, it will probably hold its own. The enormous works which owed their existence to the unbounded leisure of woman's life in earlier days will scarcely be repeated in this busier age. Even the last century produced marvels of this kind of industry (such as the extraordinary needlework imitations of paintings which are to be seen at Rokeby), which this generation is not likely to emulate. Still, it is quite true to speak of "decorative needlework" as a "revived practice." The advance of what is done now-a-days on the gaudy and tasteless work of five-and-twenty years ago is very great. This book will be very helpful to all who are interested in the subject.
Sound taste is one of its chief characteristics, especially as shown in its dicta on colour, dicta which compare the sober and permanent hues of the vegetable dyes with the more brilliant and evanescent mineral colours, very much to the disadvantage of the latter.
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