There were two principal causes for the decline of fashion in the wearing of Cameos in England. The first arose from paucity of designs; and the second from the bad workmanship engendered by overwhelming orders being thrust upon a market in which only a limited number of operatives were engaged. With regard to the first cause, modern Cameo-cutters found no other models than those which had been handed down from the times of the ancient workers in gems. The cutters were copyists merely, not true artists, and modern taste was not satisfied with the representation of classic deities, however daintily wrought. There was no variety in the pose of figure, and the minutest detail was settled one or two thousand years before. Thus Apollo, Diana, Jupiter, Mercury, Sappho, and Venus were represented in precisely the same manner they had been a thousand times before, and the Cameo worn by a noble lady only differed in the quality of execution from that worn by a greengrocer’s daughter.
How the sudden demand for Cameos arose it is difficult to say, but orders were poured into Paris houses, and the little colony of Italian and French workers found themselves unexpectedly flooded with wealth. They were men possessed of most skilful hands, but very ignorant and untutored economists, and they worked hard for a portion of the week only, and too often shut themselves up in low wine-houses, and with cards and dominoes whiled away their time. Their wages were soon exhausted by drink and gambling; and when masters wanted workmen, they had first to settle the scores they had run up, for the payment of which the landlords detained them. The natural result followed, the quality of work deteriorated, and prices fell considerably; then houses undersold each other, and Cameos were cut at per dozen instead of per piece. When the Franco-German war commenced the Cameo trade was at its lowest point, and the outbreak of hostilities dispersed the major number of the workers.
Now that the Cameo is again coming into favour, there has been produced an imitation in some hard vitreous substance, which is constantly palmed off as the genuine article to careless purchasers. I bought two of these imitation Cameos in a jeweller’s shop for a few pence one day; they were both mounted and pinned for brooches. One, which was an imitation stone Cameo, bore Raphael’s angels—those lovely little figures which appear at the foot of the “Madonna and Infant Christ” now in Dresden. This measures one by one and a half inches. The other was an oval, measuring one and a half by one and three-quarter inches, bearing the head of Ceres, and was an imitation shell Cameo. In this piece the ground was coloured yellow, and in exact imitation of a real piece of shell, the colour increased in depth of shading from the face to the back of the head. The face only was white, and the ornaments about the hair, three ears of corn, five roses, five forget-me-nots, tress on the neck, and necklet of pearls were in exact imitation of the well-known face. I have seen cards on which half-a-dozen “Real Roman Cameos” were mounted exhibited in shop windows, and the price asked was 2s. 6d. each. These scandalous imitations of lovely ornaments will only be superseded when English workers send into the market the genuine articles.
Cameo-Cutting Highly Recommended.
The question of the pursuit of Cameo-cutting as an industrial occupation for ladies was probably first suggested by Mrs. Henry Mackarness, the well-known authoress of “A Trap to Catch a Sunbeam,” who strongly recommended the art of Cameo-cutting in shell to the notice of ladies. In an admirable work entitled “The Young Lady’s Book,” published in 1876, she thus speaks of the work:—
“It is sufficiently simple to be within the scope of many who possess taste, patience, and deft fingers.... It cannot be acquired without some instruction, and considerable perseverance; but the instruction is within reach, and the perseverance will be amply repaid by the results.” This Cameo-cutting will “give young ladies a new and elegant pursuit.” It will “raise their thoughts from knitting and netting, and cultivate a taste for higher pursuits.... It can be practised with half-a-dozen small tools that take up scarcely any room; and, with a little care and instruction, the art can be readily acquired. Some knowledge of figure-drawing is necessary, and a correct eye; and it is needless to say that the more skilful the artist in this respect, the better her Cameo-work is likely to be.” The Queen was the first paper to devote a special illustrated supplement to the question.
The Lady, the Jewish World, the Housewife, the Manchester Courier, and other papers as widely separated in their pursuits and politics, have urged the consideration of this work upon public attention.
“In the Society of Arts Journal, eighteen months ago”—we quote from the Jewish World—“a paper read by Mr. Marsh before that Society was published at length, and copied into journals far and near. Almost at once the work was tried by ladies who had a knowledge of modelling and of wood-carving, and the results obtained furnish the highest possible expectation that in the near future this fascinating art will find a home amongst the ladies of England. There is no machinery required; no dust or dirt is created; there is no risk of soiling dress or carpet; and it is not at all trying to the sight; while the prospects of remuneration are of the brightest possible character. There are an enormous number of Cameos worn as pins, brooches, ear-rings, finger-rings; and the uses to which the Cameo could be put are infinite—as, for instance, for buttons, or for insetting into book-covers, or for wall ornaments. The old fashion was to wear vulgarly large brooches, with heads of abnormal size, so as to show as much ornamentation as possible; but the new fashion is to make them small, and to cut modern figures, rejecting those classic heads associated at times with most questionable stories. Why ever should ladies run after the face of Venus or Juno? Is there not as much beauty and infinitely more poetry to be got out of the faces of Rebekah or Ruth? Why should men wear Jupiter or Apollo in preference to Moses or David? Surely all that art can ever impart would fail to exhaust the tenderness or the grandeur that could be embodied in one of these faces.”
Mrs. Macfarlane, writing in the Housewife, September 1888, said:—“It is now suggested that the industry be taken up in England, as a remunerative employment for women whose artistic knowledge already embraces some idea of drawing and modelling, and who do not feel inclined to enter the ranks of those who paint well or indifferently, those little knicknackeries which it is felt have almost had their day, at least as far as substantial commercial value is concerned. Cameo-cutting, in this country, bears the charm of novelty, is easy to learn, is adaptable to many uses, and in no way encroaches upon existing national labour. Cameos representing scenes from the classics have before now been introduced into cabinets or boxes, to beautify and make them more valuable; they may, moreover, be used in embellishing books and albums. One exquisitely carved Cameo was shown to me the other day which represented the face of Christ, and was to be set in the cover of a devotional book, where I am sure it would look most beautiful. Then Cameos may be set in frames to hold photographs on the table, or be inserted in the backs of chairs, instead of the painted scenes or sprays of flowers which were so fashionable a year or two ago. Ladies’ and gentlemen’s trinkets and apparel open out a wide field for Cameo-work; brooches, ear-rings, breast-pins, studs, links, and finger-rings, are very commonly carved in Italy, but are often made too large for use. Executed finely on small pieces of shell, they might be rendered more acceptable and pretty. A special idea which has been proposed is, that sets of buttons be made of Cameos for coats, yachting, boating, or other garments. Designers who could hit upon some new idea, and carry it out for themselves, might do a good deal in these and divers other ways connected with dress. Cloak-clasps, umbrella and sunshade knobs, fan handles, dressing-cases, hand-glasses, brush-backs, glove and handkerchief boxes can be made uncommon and beautiful by its application.
“Another range in which the art would flourish is church decoration, for which Cameos are peculiarly appropriate. There is a purity and, at the same time, a durability about them, which commends their use in this direction. How beautiful, for instance, a frieze of palm-leaves would look upon a reredos, or a carved lily upon a memorial stone, or how appropriately a pulpit might be decorated in Cameo! As I write, ideas for church adornment crowed into my mind, but as I have not yet exhausted the resources of Cameo-cutting in another direction, I must leave my readers to imagine these for themselves.”