The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-10-18
MICHAEL Angeles FRESCO
PROCESS TO Be REVIVED
Test to BE Made i'm Mural DecOra-
ton of Chief Justices
ROGrn.

The small robing room of the Unit
ed States supreme court has just
been redecorated, preparatory to the
reassembling of congress and the
opening of the fall terms of the court.
This is quite a small and obscure
room, and possibly would be seen by
few visitors at the scopitol in the
course of the year, but the interest in
the work lies in the fact that it has
been done by new process, or at
least very ancient process, that has
never been used before in Washing
ton, and it may prove sort of test
piece that will have decided influence
on the future decoration of buildings
for the government mere.
The work is partly in fresco and
partly by the old Greek process,
where a dark ground is laid on and
covered with lighter tint and the
picture then produced by cutting out
the light upper layer and exposing
the background The whole work is
by Max Friederang of New York.
The fresco process has been alluded
to in the newspapers, being a
been alluded to in the Star, being a
revival of the old system to weather.
proof fresco used by Michael Angelo,
Tintoretti and number of the old
masters whose work has stood the
test of centuries. The process has
been used in this country for about
two years, and has shown that deli
cate tints will stand exposure to out
door weather in the latitude of New
York without deteriorating.
The robing room of the supreme
court. where the work has been done,
is quite a small apartment-one of
the hardest In the capitol to deco
rate effectively The artist has work
ed with view to giving an impress
sion of space rather than excessive
decoration and has succeeded so well
that the room looks considerably
larger than it really Is. The chief
part of the decorative scheme is the
ceiling, where there is representa-
ton of the laws of the universe SYM
bolized by globe showing the North
ern Hemisphere surrounded by the
stars and the rays of the sun. Be-
low this on the arched ceiling are the
laws of the states, represented by the
national coat of arms, and in the cor
ners the figures of four men, nude
and partly draped, showing the prog
ress of the race from primitive man,
perfect physically, to the dawn of the
destructive instinct, typified by fig
ure bending over sword and skull.
The lunettes below the arch of the
ceiling and above the walls of the
room are simply filled in with a
shimmering blue cloud effect, COM
inc naar noccib1o RI tho CIV on
a bright day.
The mural decoration is finished by
a frieze of thirty-two small heads in
sepia on a light ground, representing
the lawmakers and philosophers of
Greece and tome. The walls are in
plain white, with the columns
brought out in very light marble.
The effect of the whole is light and
airy, the tints of the walls and cell
ing almost duplicating the view of
the sky and the trees seen through
the windows. The coloring is so deli
cate and the tints so little empha-
sized that it gives the impression that
the work must fade after il has been
in position for little while, but the
artist expresses his confidence, in
view of the outdoor tests already
made, that the work will remain in
the key in which it was first pitched
for an indefinite period.
1t is quite possible that if the work
holds, as previous tests indicate it
can, there may be more of the same
process employed in future govern
ment decoration. Before the work
was done samples of this system of
fresco were submitted to tests by hot
and cold water and strong sunlight,
under which they stood up without
any trouble. The recovery of the
system from the old records of
Michael Angeles dairy makes long
and romantic story and was brought
about through vain efforts to restore
the frescoes in the Vatican some
Years ago