Page:Women in the Fine Arts From the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentiet.djvu/409

302 tious and audacious craftswoman, Mme. de Rudder took for a subject ’The Fates,’ to decorate a screen. Aside from the artistic interest attaching to this work, it is remarkable for another quality. The artist yielded to the instinctive liking that she had for useful art—she ornamented a useful article—and in mastering the technical difficulties of her work she created the new method called ’re-embroidery.' For the dresses of her ’Fates' ancient silks were utilized for a background. Some of the pieces had moth-holes, which necessitated the addition of 'supplementary ornamental motives,' ’embroidered on cloth to conceal the defects.' The discovery of ’re-embroidery' was the result of this enforced expedient.

"This screen, finished in 1896, was exhibited at the Cercle Artistique, Brussels, where the mayor, M. Buls, saw it. Realizing the possibilities of the method and the skill of the artist, he gave an order to Mme. de Rudder to decorate the Marriage Hall of the Hotel de Ville. This order was delivered in 1896. During this period Mme. de Rudder worked feverishly. About the same time that the order for the Hotel de Ville was given, she received from M. Van Yssendyck, architect of the Hotel Provincial in Ghent, a commission to design and embroider six large allegorical panels. One of them represented 'Wisdom' in the habiliments of Minerva, modernized, holding an olive branch. The five others were ’Justice,' holding a thistle, symbolizing law; ’Eloquence,' crowned with roses and holding a lyre; ’Strength,' bending an oak branch; ’Truth,' crushing a serpent and bearing a mirror and some lilies; and * Prudence,' with the horn of plenty