92 
House & Garden 
1 | 'HE Kranich & Bach Player Grand Piano 
* has no clumsy mechanism to mar its 
graceful lines. It produces all the loveliness 
of tone possible to hand playing. 
These are the motives that impel the selection 
of the 
■ ' ' • -5 
*Tlayer GLAND 
i m 1 15s. i 
famous throughout the world in actual musical quality. 
Convenient 
Terms of 
Payment. 
KRANICH & BACH 
235 East 23rd Street 
, NEW YORK CITY 
. 
Catalogue 
Sent on 
Request 
Composition 
Colors 
Plastic Tile 
Patterns 
CHENEY & COMPANY 
136 WEST 18th STREET 
NEW YORK 
The most beautiful of all 
curtains. Handmade in 
original and exclusive de¬ 
signs. 
$1 
pair nap 
If you prefer to do this 
simple, interesting work 
yourself, we will supply 
NET BY THE YARD- 
THREADS BY THE 
SKEIN. (Exclusive sale 
of threads used.) 
1 Send for circular with de- 
| signs illustrated. 
scnpu^niKnj) -with 
TKL^NTATTTT (LDJRIOIEIRL 
STTID2©SS | 
6 East 37th Street New York City I 
■in... iiiiiiiiiim.... 
Planning for Electrical Equipment 
(Continued jr 
added. ‘First you take long years of 
study of the law governing the produc¬ 
tion of cold by frigorific mixtures, then 
you add some years of actual experience, 
and then you continue applying gray 
brain matter until the problem is 
solved.’ ” 
“Did she say when we could get one?” 
demanded Mr. Householder practically. 
“Yes, possibly by next season. She 
said that engineers who tackle prob¬ 
lems like this do not give up. They 
keep right on working until the problem 
is solved, to the satisfaction of all.” 
Electrifying Christinas 
There ensued a few moments of 
thoughtful silence. Then the man of 
the house remarked: “Well, this is the 
age of electricity, and we certainly en¬ 
joy higher degrees of comfort than were 
known to the people of any other age. 
At the push of a button we flood our 
homes with light, we have so many con¬ 
veniences and we can add at pleasure 
to the decorath’e charm of our home—” 
“Oh, that reminds me,” said his wife, 
“of electrical decorations that are avail¬ 
able for trimming homes for festivities 
and with Christmas coming so soon, we 
must provide even here and now for 
Christmas tree outfits. Your sister and 
my brother are coming with their chil¬ 
dren to spend Christmas with us and 
I’ve got to trim up this apartment of 
om page 35) 
ours. I want to put small lamps in 
Japanese lanterns in the cosy corner. 
No more candles on tinsel-trimmed 
trees. Please order at once several of 
the tree outfits, as they add so much to 
the safety and the beauty of the Christ¬ 
mas tree.” 
“I’ll do that little thing,” said Mr. 
Householder. 
Electricity, which means so much in 
the comfort of the home today, is often 
allowed by architects an amount only a 
little over 1% of the cost of a building. 
It is rightly entitled to more considera¬ 
tion, and 3% or even 4% would be a 
fair rate to charge to comfort and con¬ 
venience and charm of the home. 
Progress in efficient illumination has 
been so rapid and the use of electricity 
for power and heat is increasing to such 
an extent, that the requirements of a 
past season do not apply to this season. 
This rapid growth makes it important 
that in planning the electric wiring of 
a home, the architect should not only 
provide for the requirements of today 
but for the needs of tomorrow. The 
National Electrical Code of Fire Under¬ 
writers prescribes the minimum gauge 
of wire and the class of fittings that 
may be used. Some city ordinances go 
somewhat further, but none emphasize 
strongly enough, the desirablity of lib¬ 
eral provision for the general conveni¬ 
ence of the future. 
Old Flower Paintings in Decoration 
( Continued, from page 57) 
reader will recall as an historical fact 
the great “Dutch tulip speculation,” 
when investors eagerly paid as much as 
$1,000 for a single bulb of a rare speci¬ 
men. Of course, this partook of the 
insanity of investment, and was of the 
same psychology as the John Law 
speculation that almost wrecked the 
finances of France in the reign of Louis 
XV, but at the base of it was the great 
love for flowers that particularly dis¬ 
tinguished the Low Countries at that 
time. 
The Netherlands, alive with shipping 
and trade, was the richest section of 
the globe; the wealth of the world 
literally was poured into her lap. Love 
of beauty developed with this pros¬ 
perity, as it had previously done in 
Greece and Rome, and its full fruition 
was the greatest school of painters 
which the world, perhaps, has ever 
known. This love for beauty had as 
one of its manifestations the develop¬ 
ment of the Dutch florist, whose 
botanical knowledge administered to the 
pleasure of his wealthy fellow citizens. 
He was aided in this by the favorable 
moist climate of his country. The de¬ 
velopment of painting and the develop¬ 
ment of floriculture went hand in hand, 
and it is but natural that the two should 
unite in the superb creations that now 
grace the museums of the world and 
the great private collections. 
The Masters 
The first immortal among flower 
painters which the Low Countries pro¬ 
duced was the Flemish master Jan 
Brueghel (1568-1625), whose other 
names of Velvet-Brueghel and Flower- 
Brueghel are suggestive of his art. He 
was not exclusively a flower painter, 
but he was among the first to compose 
subjects exclusively of flowers, and 
among his pupils were men who after¬ 
wards followed this branch exclusively. 
It has been said of Brueghel that he 
“reproduced all that is enchanting in 
nature, flowers and plants; all that is 
most adorable on earth and in Heaven—- 
Madonnas, goddesses, women.” His 
works are very rich in color, with an 
over-polished, enamel-like style, precise 
and hard in texture and with a some¬ 
what glassy brilliance. He had a dis¬ 
ciple, Daniel Seghers (1590-1661), who 
surpassed his master because his colors 
were fresher and truer, making his blos¬ 
soms fairly shimmer in their beauty. 
He became a Jesuit, and devoted his 
life to painting flowers, which became 
to him a sort of devotional exercise. In 
his pious zeal he delighted in laying his 
most delicious flowers around medallions 
of the Virgin and Saints. 
Another illustrious name in old Flan¬ 
ders was Nicolaes van Verendael (1640- 
1691), who delighted in placing among 
his flowers drops of dew and butter¬ 
flies and moths. Contemporary with 
him were Jan Philip van Thielen (1618- 
1667), Franz Ykens (1601-1693), Jan 
Antonis van den Baren and Christian 
Luckx; and of a later date were Gasper 
Pieter Verbruggen (1664-1730) and 
Jacques Melchir van Herch (1670-1735). 
The tradition was upheld in Flanders 
throughout the 18th Century and down 
into the 19th, the last great name being 
Jan Frans van Dael (1764-1840). There 
are scores of less important names, and 
much work has survived by painters 
whose identity is unknown, though 
meritorious, and is simply labelled 
“Flemish School.” 
The list of illustrious flower painters 
in Holland naturally is longer, and it 
starts with Vosmaer (1584-1641), who 
was quickly succeeded by a greater 
genius, Jan Davidsz de Heem (1600- 
1674), one of the minority of painters 
so well appreciated by his own times 
that his pictures brought him munifi¬ 
cence. His pupil Jakob van Walscapelle 
(1662-1717) was born in the same year 
as the first great woman flower painter, 
Rachel Ruysch, who became court 
painter to the Elector Palatinate. This 
brings us to the greatest of all flower 
painters, Jan van Huysum (1682-1749), 
consummate master of color and com¬ 
position. Many contemporaries and 
many followers of van Huysum upheld 
(Continued on page 98) 
