The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-08-15

hoihpSo Ia lotuors VI BClu WIN 1Qe nanSs
of masters in literature. From the top
Of the main entnblature, elaborated
carved, springs great cove, enoiroling
the whole and reaching from the marble
to tho skylight. This cove bears twenty
/ eight painted figures of young genii, by
Martiny, in their form and youthfulness
suggesting thu vigor of American ideas
and institutions. In the four corners of
the cove are winged sculptured figures
bearing shields, with background of
blue Illuminated with gold stars. In
the remote reoesses of the cove are in
soribed the names of the worlds great
est poets, dramatists, historians and phi
losophers. Francis Hopkinson Smith,
the art critic, regards the entrance hall
leading into the grand stair hall as the
finest example Of white-and gold decora-
| t1on he has ever seen. Both it and the
stair hall breathe an ineffable atmosphere
of purity and refinement.
A MARVEL IN COLORS.
The rotunda and dome, however, may
| properly be considered the eliminating
| success of the whole work. Az the ro-
tunda ia to serve as the public reading
| room of the library, the light effect was
| a prime consideration both In it's con-
struotion and adornment; and in fully
meeting this requirement., in a way new
or before attempted, lies the last surpas-
sing merit of this building of thousand
| exoellences. The room is ootagon shaped,
| Inn foot in, liam tor
| lighted by eight semi-oircular windows
| SO feet wide. The walls are screened in
variegated Siena marbles, yellow, ma
room, orange and gold, with numerous
| groined arches and balustrades. Eight
enormous piers of two shades of red NJ
indian marbles resting upon bases OF
chocolate Tennessee marble stand out
| boldly against the background of mixed
yellow and rise forty feet TO the main
entablature. This latter is highly orna-
mented with friezes, oornices and sculp-
tured figures and above it yawns this
marvellous concaye of the dome. at first
colored white.
| Here the great problem devolving for
solution upon Garnsey as the decorative
| painter was to unite and harmonic
| these vari-oolored marbles, stucco, iron
| work, figure decoration and white dome,
| into one coherent whole that would ST.
multaneously prove softly luminous and
hence grateful to the eye and remove the
idea of a gigantic mass bearing down
upon the base. The means at hand to
compass this were simply the strategy
of color and the subtle necromanoy of
lines; but with these means Garnsey
has evolved more than mere solution
of the problem; he has won, perhaps,
the most decisive triumph visible in the
entire ed1fice-a triumph solely of color
in connection with lines and masses.
MARBLE EFFECTS.
The deep pomegranate oolored marbles
Of the bases and columns had to be
merged into lighter scheme to carry
up the dome instead of weighing it with
heavy color and making it seem to bear
down upon its foundations. So, mas
much as the general tone of the SienH
marbles is a rich, tawny yellow, Garnsey
adopted as the keynote of his color scale
certain of their paler notes, and carried
them upward, lighter and more delicate.
into the white of the dome proper. The
richness Of the marbles demanded cor
responding richness-obtainable only
with gold-in the decorations above
them, and hence enough gold has been
used as accent to support the inherent
richness of the marbles. while not
enough to overload them. The back
ground of the entire wall spaces of the
rotHnda he carried around in q deep
Pompeiian red, suggested by the pome-
granate tones of the Numidian piers, 1t
being also the traditional color of great
wall spaces handed down from Rome,
| Byzantium and Egypt. Again, inasmuoh
as the tone OF old ivory resembles closest
the lighter tones of che Siena marbles,
that tone was used, with many varia-
tions, in frieze, Golfer and cornica and
although score of different oolors and
tints have been actually employed, yet
the general effect is exactly that of an
an Gent ivory carving.
Above each of the great piers are tri.
angular spaces, technically termed
'pendentIves, F." formed by the lines OF
the arches. Embraced within them are
wreaths figures and stucoo ornaments;
and these also have been treated in soft
| tones of old ivory, against background
of old red, recalling again the color Of
| the Numidian marbles in the piers below
and affording an accent of color as valu
able as it is unique. Each of the pen.
dentiyes, by reason of it's isolation ant
peculiar coloring, Is made to exercise
positive influence on the eye and brain
and supplies rest from previous oolol
| Impressions and new incentive to
| further excursions into the closely WOW
en- harmony of which it is part.
CARRYING THE EYE UPWARD.
Then the eye tracing it's way up still
higher. is carried unconsciously to the
great entablature whereon the dom
rests. A band of eagles bearing gar
lands, app caring against a golden back
| orouDd fiYea the attention. anf