Draperies

“ Their draperies are purple or deep blue, and their skins rich brown, set off by white teeth and the glint of silver bangles and brass pots. They have pretty naked children beside them. Every hundred yards or so there is something fascinatingly beautiful, so the early morning hours go past quickly. ”

“ I have repainted the greater part of the draperies— indeed, those of all the principal figures, excepting the Dead Man—with powerful and positive colors, and added double strength to the shadows of every figure, so that for force and distinctness you would hardly know it for the same picture. ”

“ ALL draperies that are not regularly cut and made, according to some design, but depend for their appearance entirely on the way in which the fabric is put up, are classed under the heading scarf draperies. They are at best but an imitation of the cut festoon drapery, and for anything permanent much better satisfaction is obtained by the use of fabric properly cut and made up. ”

“ So well, at a word, has the artist rendered the divinity which the Almighty had imparted to the most holy countenance of that great Lawgiver. The draperies also are most effectively raised from the marble ground, and are finished with beautiful foldings of the edges: the muscles of the arms, with the anatomical development and nerves of the hands, are exhibited to the utmost perfection; and the same may be said of the lower limbs, which, with the knees and feet, are clothed in admirably appropriate vestments. ”

“ Sometimes dampening the fabric will relax the threads and make straightening easier.
ESTIMATE OF YARDAGE
These figures are the approximate requirements. Always, where possible, take careful measurements for more accurate estimate. It is much better to have extra material than not enough.
When using materials with a large floral pattern or plaid, allow one full length of the motif for each additional length required for draperies.
7 Color and Design
Color has a language all its own—It expresses, it soothes, it stimulates, it creates ”

“ The figures are heavy and lumpish, and are enveloped, men and women alike, in draperies, which leave only the heads, the fore-arms, and the toes exposed. It is interesting to see the successive sculptors attacking the problem of rendering the folds of loose garments. ”

“ The draperies have sometimes the severity of armour; and the accessories, of furniture or other objects, are frequently too highly and elaborately finished. Nor is the flesh always free from the appearance of marble. ”

“ The draperies were to continue through the century, with the patriots of the Revolution sleeping in four-posters richly draped, but the tendency from then on toward more lightness, until 1800, when draperies were omitted. ”

“ The draperies are now laid with infinite care on to the living model, and are made to approximate as closely as possible to the arrangement given in the first sketch, which, as it was not haphazard, but most carefully worked out, must of necessity be adhered to. They have often to be drawn piecemeal, as a model cannot by any means always retain the attitude sufficiently long for the design to be wholly carried out at one cast. ”

“ As the object sought is brightness, sharp contrasts give best results, always bearing in mind the correct harmony of related colors. Mourning draperies should avoid as far as possible fussy or frivolous tendencies, the festoons taking on the appearance of solemn massiveness, and finished at each extremity with a heavy cascade or tail. ”

“ Some of them do not wear [Pg 9] their ordinary clothes in battle, but draperies which scarcely reach to the thigh, and so they present themselves to the enemy. They all speak the same barbarous tongue, nor differ much in appearance, but are all tall and powerful. The colour of the flesh and the hair is neither vermilion nor brown, but reddish. They live a somewhat fatiguing life, somewhat neglected and uncultivated, like the Massagetae, and, like them, on sordid food. They are not cunning, nor evildoers, but follow the customs of the Huns in sacking and rapine. ”

“ A still more notable MS. is kept in the Munich Library (Cimel. 58) , containing a two-paged picture of tributary cities bringing gifts to the Emperor Otho III. In the painting in this MS., notwithstanding the exaggerated solemnity of expression, the faces are well drawn and the features carefully modelled. The painting is in the Greek manner, as is also the general character of the draperies. The small, ill-drawn feet are by no means comparable with the heads. ”

“ The star of forecast cannot wane—wane—wane—" [Pg 38]
The spectre's voice swept on upon the wind;
The spectre faded into argent gloom.
Down shot a nacreous moonbeam dim-outlined.
The King's eyes fell upon the armied plain.
There rose a shout again, and yet again—
Below was movement, battling of armed men,
And shrieking clash of arms. How fiercely shines
That flaring light! His camp was sheathed in flame!
In flame that wrote upon his soul the lines:
"Once fixed the star of forecast cannot wane;
Thine all has been in vain, in vain, in vain—"
April and May, 1912. ”

“ The Drapers, father and sons, present the rare example in this materialistic age and most materialistic city, of a whole family devoted to literary and scientific pursuits, and working in that harmony which the sincere and loyal pursuit of science is sure to produce. Although we have had occasion to differ with Professor Draper in his philosophical and some of his political deductions, we admire his intellect and attainments, and in the purely scientific order consider him entitled to the highest consideration and respect. ”

“ Just as he was thinking this, to his intense surprise, the Drake spoke to him as follows:
"I beg of you not to kill me, my good boy," said he, "for you must know I am not in reality a Drake as I appear to be, but I am a fairy King just come from the region of the gods. It is my habit every day to descend to this lake in the form of a white Drake, and to amuse myself by swimming round and round. If you will now consent to let me go I will reward you liberally. You shall have gold and silver and jewels and coral, as much as you wish, and sumptuous food every day for the rest of your life. ”

“ There is no doubt that Draco dates from the earliest times, as Eudoxus and Aratos both mention this constellation, and many believe that it represents the crooked serpent of Job xxvi., 13.
Of all creatures the serpent is historically the most interesting. It is referred to in myth and legend more often than any other, and connected as it is with the very story of Eden, it is linked with the earliest history of man as no other creature is. ”

“ This morning Draxy had that mysterious feeling as if all things were new, which so often comes to poetic souls. It is at once the beauty and the burden, the exhaustion and the redemption of their lives. No wonder that even common men can sometimes see the transfiguration which often comes to him before whose eyes death and resurrection are always following each other, instant, perpetual, glorious. Draxy took out her little diary. ”

“ Slowly a dim purpose struggled in Draxy's brain. It would do no harm to find out. But how? No more journeys must be taken on uncertainties. At last, late one night, the inspiration came. Who shall say that it is not an unseen power which sometimes suggests to sorely tried human hearts the one possible escape? Draxy was in bed. ”

“ DRAPER, one who deals in cloth or textiles generally. The Fr. drap, cloth, from which drapier and Eng. “draper” are derived, is of obscure origin. It is possible that the Low Lat. drappus or trappus (the last form giving the Eng. “trappings”) may be connected with words such as “drub,” Ger. treffen, beat; the original sense would be fulled cloth. “Drab,” dull, pale, brown, is also connected, its first meaning being a cloth of a natural undyed colour. The Drapers’ Company is one of the great livery companies of the city of London. The fraternity is of very early origin. ”

“ She told her friends, who had difficulties to recognize her, the amazing things she had witnessed: she told them that dracs eat human flesh, and that they can change their bodies into human forms. One day, she said, the drac gave her a portion of eel pie, and she rubbed one of her eyes with that grease, and instantly her eye acquired the ability to see underwater. Three years later, this woman recognized the Drac at the market in Beaucaire and called him by his name, asking him news of his half and of his son. ”

“ It is almost as necessary for a young god or hero to slay monsters as for a young lady to be presented at court; and we may hesitate to explain all these legends of an useful feat of courage as nature-myths. In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo Pythius, the monster is called Dracæna, the female form of drakon. The Drakos and his wife are still popular bogies in modern Greek superstition and folk-song.**
* Preller, i. 194. ** Forchhammer takes the Dracæna to be a violent winter torrent, dried up by the sun's rays. Cf. Decharme, Myth. ”

“ The chief example of the class is that body in Draco which first yielded to Huggins the secret of the gaseous nature of the nebulæ. It [pg 267] lies nearly half-way between Polaris and Gamma Draconis, and is described by Webb as a 'very luminous disc, much like a considerable star out of focus.' It is by no means a striking object, but has its own interest as the first witness to the true nature of that great class of heavenly bodies to which it belongs. ”

“ There seems to have been a special effort on the part of the originators of the constellations, at the outset almost, to symbolise by a star group the presence of the Evil One, ever watchful, ever vigilant, gazing down upon mortals from the high heavens, as a perpetual menace to evil-doers and a continual reminder of original sin.
The constellations Draco and Hercules are closely associated in ancient mythology, and Hercules is always represented as trampling the Dragon underfoot. ”

“ There can be little doubt that in these star groups we have evidence of the very earliest attempts of man to engrave a record of history and tradition for all humanity to read, and that in the history of these constellations lies the key to many of the mooted religious questions of the day.
The Arabs knew Draco as "Al-Tinnìn," and "Al-Thubān," and had names for all the brighter stars in the constellation, many of which represented to their imagination goats or camels. The Egyptians, it is said, also called Draco "Tanen" at one time. This name is still retained by the star γ Draconis. ”

“ In Raphael's day there were large tracts of the world, dark woods, inaccessible mountains, which had hardly been explored at all, and people fancied them haunted by strange men and stranger animals. As more and more light is let into the world, these dark places disappear, and we have come to know just what kinds of animals and men there are everywhere. Yet still, we are not quite sure there may not be singular beasts lurking out of sight, like the sea serpent for example.
Now, the dragon in early days stood for what was ugly and terrible and a hater of good. ”

“ For this cause high initiates were called "naga," or serpents of wisdom; and a living serpent was always carried in the celebration of the mysteries. During the brilliant eighteenth and nineteenth Egyptian dynasties, Draco was a great god; but when this constellation lost its place in the heavens, and Thuban ceased to be the guiding sidereal Divinity, it shared the fate of all the fallen gods. "The gods of our fathers are our devils," says an Arabic proverb. When Re-Veilings was written, Draco had become a fallen angel representing evil spirituality. ”

“ Some poor child up there is growing frightened in the dusk! Ours is a Celtic country, full of phantoms, elves, and fairies. Who knows but the huntsman with his spectral rout may dash out of yonder hollow? There is also, and especially, the Drac, a subtle spirit whose dear delight it is to play pranks at twilight on the little herds—a Proteus imp who can change into any shape, who plaits the cattle’s tails and manes into inextricable mats, who pulled Touéno’s ears only last November, one evening as he sat upon the hill, leaving the child half-dead with fear. ”

“ The Drake flew far up into the blue sky until he arrived at the country of the gods, where he changed at once into the form and raiment of the King of the Fairies. Seating himself upon his throne, he summoned his three daughters before him and informed them of what had occurred; and he gave orders to his middle daughter to prepare herself forthwith to go and marry a mortal. ”

“ The drake is very attentive to the female while she is laying, and yet more so while she is engaged in the duties of incubation; constantly wheeling about on the wing among the branches, near the nest on which she is sitting, and greeting her with a little undertoned murmur of affection, or perching on a bough of the same tree, as if to keep watch over her. ”

“ Henry Draper inherited from his father in an eminent degree the aptitude for delicate experimenting, and a fine capacity of manipulatory tact. The elder Draper was one of the founders of the recent science of photo-chemistry. He worked early and brilliantly in the new and fascinating field of the chemistry of light, and more than forty years ago by his extensive contributions to this subject he prepared the way for those who entered to reap the fruits of his labors in the splendid field of spectrum analysis. ”

“ Governor Simeon Draper fastens his voluptuous eyes upon her, and her fate is sealed. Three years since, Gov. Draper proposes that she become a matron on Randall’s Island, and she accepts his proposition, and he procures her a situation. After she began to discharge her matron duties, Governors Draper and Bell (now Supervisor) , entered her domestic apartment on Randall’s Island, and asked her what she had in the next room, pointing their fingers to her bed room. She said they might look for themselves. They replied: “What are you afraid of?” ”