September, 1920 
39 
St. Aubin’s “Soyez Discret” is so 
delicately drawn that one cares 
little 'whether it is a faithful self- 
portrait or not 
A small commode , one or 
two objets d’arts and a 
French print above com¬ 
prise a group that will en¬ 
rich almost any type of 
drawing room. Darnley 
“Comptez sur mes sermens”, re¬ 
puted to be a portrait of M. St. 
Aubin, is typical of that artist’s 
engravings 
The French print requires 
either a plain papered or a 
paneled wall. Its frame 
should be very simple, as in 
the group below. Courtesy 
of Darnley 
in themselves, the simplest 
frames will be the most effec¬ 
tive. Take a cream molding, 
about 1” wide, with a gold 
band on the inside and see 
whether it won’t give the best 
finishing touch to your print. 
Suitability here as everywhere 
else should lie your guiding 
motive. Original prints are 
delicate objects and are han¬ 
dled as such by collectors, be¬ 
ing carefully tucked away in 
drawers or portfolios, only to 
come out on rare occasions. 
Reproductions must be treated 
with due consideration also 
and because of their lightness 
and grace, heavily gilded 
frames, or too wide ones richly 
carved, detract from their 
charm. A little leniency in 
this regard may be used in the 
case of larger sized prints, 
when a dull gold, wider frame 
will be correct. 
The Hanging 
As the center of any room is 
the hearth, your best and larg¬ 
est print should find its place 
over the mantel, especially if 
it is of authentic value. If 
the frame happens to be of an 
ornate type, your print will 
look best hung by a heavy 
cord. Better still, let it Ire 
hung flat against the wall, by 
unseen hooks, and if that is 
not satisfactory, resort to the 
wire method. This is two 
parallel wires running to two 
small screws in the molding, 
thus avoiding the protruding 
picture hooks, which prevent 
the prints from lying flat on 
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the wall. A careful observ¬ 
ance of such small details en¬ 
hances the perfect ensemble 
and emphasizes the fact that 
right proportions in everything 
are imperative in carrying 
French principles into a deco¬ 
rative scheme. Only thus can 
a room receive the stamp of 
real elegance. Half a dozen 
prints hung well, a couple of 
fauteuils placed right, the sofa 
appropriately covered with 
toile cle Jouy, and a dull, one- 
colored carpet, will do more 
than the piling up of hetero¬ 
geneous and costly objects to 
produce a milieu of distinction. 
Gallantry in Prints 
The intelligent application 
of any medium necessitates an 
understanding of the circum¬ 
stances through which it was 
created. Really to care about 
the 18 th Century French 
prints, the spirit of their age 
should be familiar to us. 
Among the lesser arts that 
flourished in the 18th Century, 
line engraving held a promi¬ 
nent place. The handling of 
the burin attracted amateurs 
and artists alike and many of 
the former spent their, idle 
hours under the guidance of 
famous engravers. Many well 
known paintings were copied, 
portraits were drawn, and 
other scenes were engraved 
simply for a decorative pur¬ 
pose, recording some boudoir 
or pastoral scene. The time 
had come when the court tired 
out after a long dull period, 
( Continued, on page 90) 
