The Washington herald., 1913-06-21
Court Gossip of Interesting
EpentS on Two Continents

little practiced. The art Of mosaic for
mural decorations never has been deeply
implanted in the sensibilities of the nortn
OF Europe, nor has il been employed much
IN France, Germany, or England. 1t
| ceased to be generally adopted in Italy
when fresco. oil, and ''tempera" painting
came into vogue. There are no instances
OF the use Of mosaic in England after
the Roman occupation The Normans,
who derived II from the Greeks and
Saracens and adopted IL in Italy, did not
import II either TO France or to England
Although English churches, and French
also, were decorated with polychromy
from early times up to the sixteenth cen
,ury. there is no evidence of mosaic ever
having been used. The revival of a school
OF mosaicists in Rome during the seven
teenth century employed in the decoration
OF St Peters, and here and there sparse
ly used in other churches, led to the idea
which Wren would have carried into ef-
feet. namely, making use of mosaic for
the Cathedral Of St. Paurs, London, but
his scheme. IL ii was ever really enter
tanned, never was carried out. as We all
know. and the art. which might have
become the fashion in England remained
an exotic.
1t has been left to tn. Roman Catholic
Cathedral at Westminster TO revive il
Each OF the eleven chapels, which are
comprehended in that grand ediice, viii
be adorned with mosaic, several Of them
already are complete, but an immense
amount Of work still remains to be done.
not only in the chapels, but in the deco
ration of the general structure
At Westminster Cathedral Is found
Miss Gertrude Martin. who is able 10
boast that she is the only woman master
mosaic worker in England. The work in
which she and her assistants have been
engaged in the Lady Chapel for close on
two years includes the altar picture of
the Virgin and Child, and four carved
panels containing cartoons Of the pro-
phets-Isaiah. jeremiah. Daniel. and
Ezekiel
The old mosaic workers of st. Marks
Venice. used to work on the wall, but it
seems to have become to a great extent
lost art. Modern Italian mosaic is
quite different and is done by fixing the
glass on paper and then transferring It
II can never. OF course. have the effect
Of real mosaic One has to be a good
judge Of color, its value in mosaic. and
what it will look like at a distance. The
glass is of innumerable tints. The vene-
tians had something like 1900 varieties.
Perhaps there are not quite so many
now, but they are very numerous.
The ocean mystery caused by the six
year derelict French cruiser recalls that
in 1894 there were so many shipwrecks
caused by derelict vessels that more
than a thousand British captains petit
toned the Admiralty to take some
means OF destroying this menace to ship
ping. Some of these abandoned ships
travelled extraordinary distances and
were seen many times. The Fanny E
Wolstin, for instance. which was aban-
doned October Is. 1891. Travelled 4.co0
miles before she was last seen in De-
cember. 1895: while the W. L White.
abandoned on March 13, 1855 eighty
miles from New York, subsequently was
recognized by forty-five vessels and went
ashore January o, 1889. OF the Hebrides.
after having travelled 5,905 miles
The greatest ocean mystery was that
of the Marie Celeste, a trading brig
which left Boston in February. 1876, with
nineteen persons on board, including the
wife and little daughter Some
weeks after she was sighted OF Gibral-
tar under full sail. boats crew
boarded her, but found not a soul on
board. Yet there was a half-consumed
meal on the cabin table. cnild's gar
ment on the sewing machine. and the
watch was still ticking by his
berth. There was plenty OF food and
water. the vessel was quite seaworthy.
of value had been taken. there
was no evidence of piracy or mutiny.
and the boats still hung in the davits.
The fate Of the nineteen people who
sailed from Boston never was discovered
FLANEUR-