The vaulting of the broad passageway leading to the Reading Room
consists of a series of six small domes, the ornamentation of which
is similar, in its more modest way, to that of the vaulted corridors
which the visitor has just left. The colors are light and bright,
and the three different patterns employed consist mainly of garlands
and ribbons, and of simple bands of color radiating from a central
medallion. Swans, eagles, or owls are introduced both in the domes
and as the ornament of the pendentives, and eagles occur between
the double consoles which receive the weight of the domes upon the
east wall. In the medallions just referred to are various objects
symbolizing the Fine Arts--tragic and comic masks, for Acting; a
lyre, for Music; a block of marble, half shaped into a bust, and
sculptors’ tools, for Sculpture; a lamp, scrolls, and an open book,
for Literature; and the capital of an Ionic column, a triangle, and
some sheets of parchment, for Architecture.
[Illustration: JUSTICE. BY GEORGE W. MAYNARD.]
The trophies of Sculpture and Architecture, it should be added,
are accompanied by appropriate names--comprising those of cities,
statues, and buildings--inscribed both in the arabesques and in the
pendentives of certain of the domes. For Architecture, the buildings
commemorated are the Colosseum, the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon, and
the Pyramids; while the cities are those with whose fame these
four great monuments are connected--Rome, Agra, Athens, and Gizeh.
The sculptures are the Farnese Bull, the Laocoön, the Niobe, and
the Parthenon Pediment, and in the bordering arabesques are the
names of the four divinities often taken as the subject of ancient
statuary--Venus, Apollo, Hercules, and Zeus.
=Mr. Van Ingen’s Paintings.=--In the centre of the passage a marble
staircase, dividing to the right and left at a landing halfway up,
leads to the gallery of the Reading Room. Beneath, on either side,
is a little bay, giving access to the elevators. In the decoration
of the ceiling the effect aimed at is that of an arbor, with a vine,
climbing over a trellis, painted against a sunny yellow background.
Each contains a small tympanum, in which Mr. Van Ingen has suggested
the subjects of Milton’s well-known companion poems, _L’Allegro_
and _Il Penseroso_--Mirth, and Melancholy or Thoughtfulness. The
decorations are not illustrations, as the word is usually understood,
like some of Mr. Walker’s panels, already described; they have no
reference to any particular scene or incident in the poems, but are
intended as an interpretation of their general spirit and meaning.
In the first, _Il Penseroso_, the time of year is autumn; in the
other it is spring. Similarly, in _L’Allegro_ the landscape is shown
in morning light, while in _Il Penseroso_ the time is evening. The
latter panel is in the bay to the north of the staircase. A single
figure, that of a beautiful woman with dark hair and soft, pensive
eyes, is shown at half length, leaning her head upon her hand in an
attitude and with an expression of deep contemplation. _L’Allegro_
is represented by a young woman, light-haired and sparkling with
laughter, who is playing under the trees with two little children.
In the pendentives of the bays are inscribed portions of the two
poems illustrated. The lines from _L’Allegro_ are as follows:--
... Come, thou Goddess fair and free,
In heaven yclept Euphrosyne,
And by men heart-easing Mirth;
* * * * *
Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee
Jest, and youthful Jollity,
Quips and cranks and wanton wiles,
Nods and becks and wreathèd smiles,
Such as hang on Hebe’s cheek,
And love to live in dimple sleek.