The Cameo

1907

Gets Its Name From the Cutting, Not From the Stone

The true nature of a cameo is very much misunderstood by the public generally. Most people think it is the stone itself, when in reality the method of cutting is what produces the cameo. The real meaning of the word is unknown, Its derivation having never been discovered; but, correctly speaking, cameos are small sculptures executed in low relief on some substance precious either for its beauty, rarity or hardness.

There are emerald cameos, turquoise cameos, shell cameos, coral cameos. Indeed, any substance that lends itself to carving in such minute detail can be used for cameo cutting, and nearly all precious stones, except diamonds, have been so used for intaglios, but never for cameos. Emerald is the most common precious stone from which cameos have been made, and there are some very fine emerald portrait cameos in existence, notably those of Queen Elizabeth in the British museum. Shell cameos were first made in the fifteenth century.

Banded onyx is generally used for cameo work because of its hardness and coloring, and it is this fact that has caused the misapprehension, the stone being used so much in making cameos that it has now become better known as "cameo" than by its right name. — St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

A Blind Girl's Interests at the Art Institute

Chicago, 1895

Mysterious Old Woman and Sightless Girl Doing the Art Institute

They tell a story over at the Art Institute on the lake front about an old woman who goes there on free days leading a blind girl, says the Chicago Tribune. The old woman totters in her steps and her face is wrinkled. Her attire is not shabby, but it is severely plain and doesn't belong to this generation. The girl has a face as white as marble and her blind eyes are unusually full. Her mouth is expressive and a singularly sad smile nestles about it.

Somebody who asked the old woman one day tells that the twain live on Mohawk street and that the girl has been blind since she was 4 years old. She is now 12. The girl always, since she was old enough to know, evinced a passion for art. At one time she undertook drawing, but had to quit it. They say she plays naturally and sweetly. But her strong like is art in sculpture. The old woman leads the child among the statuary and reproductions of the various rooms, mentioning, of course, anything new. The girl has learned the location of the principal works, and after they have been in one room for awhile the girl will say to the woman: "Let's go into the room where ——-," mentioning what it is she wants to "see," as she expresses it. One of her favorites is the group of Amphion and Zethus chaining Dirce to the bull. Someone told her the story one day, and seemed to fascinate her, and she asked several curious questions about it.

But after they have wandered about the rooms most of the day the girl nearly always says to the woman: "Let's go and see the child that is listening to the sea." The work is in one of the corridors, and has been noticed with interest by thousands. The child said one day when she was told that the figure was listening to the murmur of the sea, and that it appeared to please her, "Then she must be blind." Several people have asked the woman her name, but she evades the inquiry, and when the child is questioned she nestles to the woman and makes no reply. It is believed that they are mother and child.