99 x 93 in.
Gift of Mrs. Charles S. Crosley
Mrs. Charles S. Crosley, Indianapolis, Indiana; given to the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, in 1936.
The story of The Romance of Real Lace is depicted by cavorting cherubs. In the lower right, one cherub gathers flax and another uses a distaff. In the center, five cherubs work on a sunflower, which also serves as their lace-making pillow. Two cherubs manipulate the bobbins, one flies in with pins, another uses a hooked tool and the fifth one rushes in with open scissors. Across the top, a cherub tips a horn-of-plenty from which spills a profusion of flowers, representing Industry. To the left, a cherub holds a hanging scale, and the last cherub holds up the end of a vine flowing from the horn-of-plenty. All are industrious cherubs.
This masterpiece not only offers the fascinating story of lace making and a glossary of ground stitches for the bobbin lace maker to study, but it is also a gardener's delight with its many floral motifs, both realistic and fanciful. The flowers include pansies, morning glories, carnations, fuchsias, irises, bleeding hearts, daisies, roses, lilies of the valley, tulips and spider mums. The flowers, leaves, and vines in the lower half are more curving and fanciful. Fruit and animal life appear only in the upper corners, grapes on the right and a bird sitting in the cherry tree on the left. There are so many design elements that one can continually find new surpries.
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