In 1917, some text was written about this work, The Emblem:
This fine example shows us a beautiful and graceful lady in a rich interior seated at an embroidery frame.
Her face is half turned to us as she raises the cloth covering the work. The attitude is reserved,
as of one reluctantly disclosing a secret; and indeed she does not show too much,
for her flowing sleeve tantalizingly hides the greater part of what she has uncovered.
Pictorially the work has great charm; and though there is no story to it, it suggests an idea.
We are to suppose that she has been long at work with cunning needle in secret, making a splendid banner,
emblem of a great cause and destined to be borne at the head of its supporters.
Such an object is worthy of the labour consecrated by love that she has given to it.
But the time for its display is not yet, and for the present the secret must be jealously guarded.
Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee, English painter and illustrator of the Pre-Raphaelite persuasion, seemed to know a little about the ways of women, don't you think? I wonder why, or how. He's caught this furtive moment with perfection ~ that hesitancy to reveal. We've all felt it at one time or another...isn't it quintessentially just like this?
I've had a whole year of this feeling and was not even aware of it until now. I am unsure what this means and I'm uncertain what to do about it or even if it needs having something done. But some things are percolating. My time to focus just received a rather splendid calling card.
The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time,
but in their significance to ourselves, they find their own order...
the continuous thread of revelation.
~ Eudora Welty ~
