The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-02
CHURCH PANELS
 ARE FINISHED
Years Spent on Walls of the
 Paulist Fathers
Decoration for the Gallery Front Is Now Completed-History and Tra- dition of Catholic Church Told in Symbolism of Carved Figures-So- Iution of the Light Problem.

New York, March 2.-Work on the mural decorations of the Church of the Paulist Fathers at Ninth Avenue and F'ifty-ninth Street, which was be- gun thirteen years ago. has reached its first stage of completion, and this week the last section of the first DOT tion will be set in place. It consists of series of panels of carved and decorated basswood to serve as the front of the gallery at the rear of the auditorium above the main entrance.
 These panels have an important part in the plan of decorations which William Laurel Harris has conceived for the church, they are replete with symbolical figures, depicting no char acters and having no commentators that are without an important mean ing in Roman Catholic history and literature The artist considers that the final completion of one of the four sides of the church now affords for the first time some idea of the purposes underlying what is destined to be the chief work of his life:
 When this work was begun in the looked upon in church circles with no small degree of skepticism, for nothing of the kind had ever before been undertaken in America, and 1t was doubted whether an American artist, working in a thoroughly Amer introduce here anything like the ec- clesiastical decorations for which ear Her centuries had been conspicuous in Europe.
 That problem was solved. however, and the answer recorded in the af- firmative when the first panels in the side walls were completed and the plan began to reveal itself.
 The panels to be installed this week are the first specimens of work of this kind ever done in this city. They are entirely the invention of sthe mu- of old Byzantine work. The bass wood is first carved. then burned when necessary to sharpen the out lines and deepen the carvings, and then painted. Tn the centre of the series is an oblong panel representing Christ after the descent from the cross, and at the head and feet are the typical seven-branch candlesticks. On either side are square panels bear ing the figure of the phoenix, the symbol of the resurrection, the wings set with many semi-precious stones, including turquoise. lapis lazulae, ma lachite. topaz, moss agate, green agate, and others.
 A Width of Fifty-Five Feet.
 Extending to either end - of the church from the square pieces just described is series of four ob1ong pieces, two on each side,S. the chief figures on which are twelve lambs representing the apostles, with a background of purple lilies of the field" and conventionalized passion flowers. The total width of the en- tire series of panels is fifty-five feet. The decorative borders in which the panels are set have the passion flow CT as their distinctive decoration with here and there the figure of the peli- can drawing blood from it's own breast to feed it's young, symbolicaI of the church, which cares for its followers by drawing on it's own strength. ,:
 When viewed from the front of the and illuminated by con- cealed lights the new panels will ap-- pear as though directly beneath the huge painting on canvas of the cru cifixion on the rear wall, which, in turn, is beneath five windows by La. Farge. MT. Harris has so arranged the illumination and the general set ting of the separate features that the gallery seems to disappear from view, leaving windows, canvas and wood panels to form one harmonious whole, seemingly on one surface, but really on two, and illuminated by natural light from without and by concealed artificial lights within.
 The oil painting of the cruclfixion was done by the artist after a jo - ney to Jerusalem and careful study of many authorities. It covers a sin gle piece of canvas measuring twen- ty by fifty-f1ve feet, woven especially for this painting in Holland and said to be the largest single piece of can vas in America.