New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-05-05

ripeappIs in NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. simple mHoie
bslu.trade would have been appropriate and handsome
The main s'sirways above, two at each end Of the
Capitol eaeDg to the galleries of she two Legislative
Chambers, are ths other hand the nobest features
Of the interior Of the building One Of them is of white
Carss MARBLE the other three of the beautiful coorsa
marble of Tennessee with the capitals Of the columns
In bronze. These stsirwsys broad and massive, OF
ersous and easy accent Hanked with stately cou ms,
TO be waDscoted when finished with marble, and light
I'd from above. Entrances 30 spacious and Imposing
would redeem much that ia trivial and msretiicious, II
there were any good reason why the whole binding
should not have been equally excellent, according 10 its
place and purpose, and equally significant. What may
be made manifest In these noble starcases fine
entrance at The east end, while what not s the moro
mspsst by ihelamentable contrast which thus Afford
ed But the architect has failed to learn from the mar
bic wsincotipg here how effective Il might be else
where, and how much m ,re appropriate marble bal
usirade would be on any stairway of imoortsnce.
When the four grand accents TO the galleries Of tho two
houses are furnished with pictures and ecu psures for
their no vacant spaces, as undoubtedly they event.
usly will be by the Art Commission there will be moth
ing wanting to their completeness and beauty.
For Mr. BuchanaDs many sins let him have large
Offset for the appointment Of this Art Commission. 1t
has put stop 10 much mischief saved q vase Of An
incredible quantity ofpant and left in innocent white,
vast areas of harmless plaster. White plaster In con-
dtion of violent eruption Of succo not beautu but
stretch of almost interminable wall and long vista
of arches dotted all over with figures in distemper,
painted apparently with higher design than 10 cover
much space, At much day, referring TO the life,
the religion the mode Of thought of people dead thou
sands of years ago. without meaning TO almost any NOR
tai eye tina. will look upon them here, are worse
than not beautful-they absurd There is an area
Of acre less Of this sort Of work in the Cap
ito which, us long it shall remain, monument OF
misplaced and lavish expenditure Of national ienor-
and bad taste. There is great beauty undoubtedly
in the designs from Pompei, in those from the Logga
Of Raphael or the Baths Of Ftus, 10 all Roman art,
and the ancient art Of Greece but their aggregation or
aggregation in the corridors and chambers Of the Capt.
toll Of tbis Republic, without design and without
method, mixed up here and there with tropical Flora,
or American orthodoxy or English, or French, or
Swiss scenery, or scenery from no mortal knows
wheoe with the American eagle sDufing incense from
Greek altar, or the American shield restiny upon
Greek tripod, or Cupid or a Nymph dancing upon
nothing and waving the star pangsa banner, L. just
undoubtedly, absurdy out of place. Better have the
plain plaster with the stucco eruptioDs than THE; better
have plain plaster under the direction Of the artist In
whitewssh, who, If he has othe! merit is at least
clearly. Yet this lie the sort Of thing which the 1asn
decorator, the architect, or the superintendent or
whoever else Is responsible, has given in weareome
repetition, interpreted with gliding, set of with
painting in esco till the eyes become dazzsd with the
confused congomerston of COLOR snd the mind wearied
with the vain attempt to detect some meaning and de-
sign. TIE intention, we believe, was to cover the
sails and ceilings of all the rooms and passages with
this style of decoration but fortunately has been ar
rested by the appointment Of the Art Commission LIE
effect is in the passages below tae Senate Cham
Der, where very little, if any, decoration wac needed,
or was admissible, except it were something which
should serve merely tighten the dimuess and gloom
of the place. IL 10 difcut TO describe TO who has
not seen it the character which this painting gives 10
these long and hafEehted halls. That it is inappro
pirate 10 the place in which it is put that has not the
most distant relation 10 country, time, or our
institutions Is foreign to the sentiments and the
thoughts of our people, is evident at glance Exam
ned separately and bit by Bit there are many dssigns
Of beautiful tint and graceful FORM and here and there
an American bird or flower suggests that somebody
while painting had some gimmsrng Of an idea, lost,
however, in the next moment perhaps, in some my
biological emblem from ancient Greek art without
meaning 10 him anybody else. But any admiration
which the curious and psinstakDg observer may feel
for the minute details and separate parts when taken
BY themselves is swallowed up in regret that they
20 out of place. are g mixed up with each other to
destroy their essential character and being upon pss
ter on bare aid upprote ;ted wall exposed as to be
certainly, in no long me mutlstsd and defaced; and
when he turns from these details 10 look q. the wnole
he is Loot in bewderuent and possibly disgust. The
long vista Of wa stretching out before his eyes seems
covered with come wonderful chntz, reminding him Of
the drying of mandatory of calico or mous
,eDe ce lame, and recalling the wonderful crockery
palace visited by Robinson Crusoe in his travels in
China. Nor does The supposition seem irrational that
tie National Capitol IL be turned into museum Of
the pictorial art Of all ages and all peoples for the ben
eft of designers in every possible art or manufacture in
which designing can be used. But Of one thing he is
pertuaded-,hst if in all this work he comes upon any
thing which is Apr opriae is there by the sbeerest
accidents that anything be may find just and proper
itself is in the wrong place that with some few eI-
&c tioDs there nothing which should be there az ALL
and that the artist having given OF wall AMI cell
ing TO cover, with given quantity Of designs. has
gwen them in vain sDd uDmeaniDg repsttions with as
much conscience and much feeling only az he would
paint the blank surface of u dead-wall wi a single
color Nor Ia this the only objection TO the production
Of Grecsn and Roman art of this character. IL proper
any where it would be in upper chambers orna
mental ura painting but 1t is srkiDgy out of keeping
in long passages like these Lighted only At the ex-
tremitips, passage, evidently carrying heavy super
structure Where light would admit of it, the heavy
cornices and massive york in suceo, 80 aviohy intro
duced in the Chambers OF the Senate and the Honse
hal NJ ;oht ohnve mil