Suggestions for Christmas 
Inexpensive Presents that Appeal to the Finest Taste 
P hotographs and photogravures of famous 
paintings are always welcome gifts. The 
Christmas season naturally suggests the “Ma¬ 
donna” pictures. As this incarnation of maternal 
love and childish innocence was the most frequently 
repeated subject in early art, there are many pres¬ 
entations of it to choose from. In fact, a carefully 
selected set of, say, ten photographs, would make 
almost a history of Italian painting, for there is an 
uninterrupted and constantly improving series begin¬ 
ning with the stiff' Byzantine type of Madonna and 
ending with the most perfect presentation of the 
Virgin in art—Raphael’s Sistine Madonna. 
Cimahue, Duccio, and Fra Angelico left us the 
most beautiful of the earliest examples. Though 
they retained the hard gold background of the By¬ 
zantines, they introduced a freer, more natural feeling 
into the treatment. Fra Filippo Lippi broke entirely 
with conventional methods, and gave us a graceful 
young woman of his day, richly robed and surrounded 
by every sign of opulence. Botticelli’s imagination 
carried his even farther; nowhere does he reveal 
himself more characteristically than in these pictures 
of the young mother, crowned and enthroned, and 
surrounded by dreamy saints and angels. 
But the prince of Madonna painters was Raphael. 
Of the many attributed to him, at least three dozen 
are incontestably his work. Every one is familiar 
With his Sistine, and the Madonna della Sedia; there 
are others scattered about in the world’s great muse¬ 
ums which would well repay acquaintance. One of the 
loveliest is his Madonna of the Meadow, in Vienna. 
There are Madonnas by the Spanish masters to 
choose from; but of a higher type artistically are the 
early Flemish and German, quaintly, almost absurdly 
drawn, yet full of mediaeval dignity. Hugo van der 
Goes’s “Nativity” in the Uffizi Gallery, is one of the 
world’s very great pictures. 
First among all German Madonnas—in fact one 
of the greatest gems of German art—is Holbein’s 
Madonna of Burgomaster Meyer, at Darmstadt. 
Albrecht Durer’s most famous is the Madonna of the 
Pear, now in Vienna. Earlier than these is Lochner’s 
dream of ecstatic piety—the Virgin in the Rose 
Arbor; and the grand and solemn Madonna by 
Schdngauer in St. Martin’s Church at Colmar. 
The last great treatments of this theme were by 
the Dutch and Flemish masters of the seventeenth 
century. The best known are the Nativity by Rem¬ 
brandt, the Madonna of the Innocents by Rubens, 
and the Madonna of the Rosary by Van Dyck. 
Modern Madonnas scarcely deserve mention 
beside these great names. Not only are they inferior 
as paintings, but they have ceased to be the highest 
expression of the deepest wave of religious fervor the 
world has ever known. They have added nothing 
to art. Photographs of the usual size, or photogra¬ 
vures 15 X 20 of all the Madonnas mentioned, can 
be bought. Colored prints should be avoided unless 
published by a reliable house and at a good price. 
“I know a shop full of the most beautiful hand¬ 
made baskets,” said a woman with a genius for scent¬ 
ing out unusual and attractive things. “Everybody 
on my Christmas list this year is to get a scrap-basket. 
One can always use them and it simplifies the gift 
problem for me. I have found a dealer who has 
baskets every color and every shape—to harmonize 
with every room. None of those beribboned atroc¬ 
ities with foolish looking bunches of fruit or flowers 
dangling down the side; but dignified, hand-woven 
articles that it is a pleasure to buy. They come 
from Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, plain 
serviceable baskets of no particular weave; very 
beautiful, hut no less useful ones of intricate work¬ 
manship. Indian baskets are of course the most 
expensive. I am not going in for them. But there is 
a four-cornered nested hasketof Japanese make that is 
durable and artistic, while inexpensive—and you can 
have it stained to match a sample of wall-paper or dra¬ 
pery. In that way I am sure to suit all my friends.” 
Among novelties in brass and copper are re¬ 
productions of antique door-knockers. Though 
knockers were long since generally replaced by door¬ 
bells, the decorative effect of the old-time metal 
striker is far better. Failing the genuine antique, 
the next best thing is the faithful reproduction. The 
well-known Spanish design of the lady’s hand pro¬ 
jecting from a frilled sleeve (originals of which can 
still be picked up in Cuba), the Russian double¬ 
headed eagle, the lion or the dragon grasping a heavy 
ring in the mouth, the Medusa head, the bunch of 
grapes—in fact all the familiar designs—have been 
copied, and are as excellent as the best material and 
the best modern facilities can make them. They 
run from four to ten and a half inches in height, and 
even a slender purse is not much slenderer after 
indulging in one. 
The furniture styled “Quaint” is distinctly lighter 
in construction than its predecessor, “Mission” fur¬ 
niture. It has plain surfaces and simple lines, and 
the wood and leather used are finished in soft har¬ 
monious colors. Good workmanship is evident in 
even the most trivial details. All joints—not that 
joints are a trivial detail by any means—are of the 
old-fashioned tongue and groove kind; for these have 
never been improved upon by any modern device. 
12 
