Hail! thou Goddess, sage and holy!
Hail, divinest Melancholy!
* * * * *
Come; but keep thy wonted state,
With even step, and musing gait,
And looks commercing with the skies,
Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes:
There, held in holy passion still,
Forget thyself to marble....
[Illustration: FORTITUDE. BY GEORGE W. MAYNARD.]
=Mr. Vedder’s Mosaic Decoration.=--The wall of the landing of the
staircase is occupied by an arched panel, fifteen and a half feet
high and nine feet wide, containing a marble mosaic by Mr. Elihu
Vedder.[8] The artist has chosen for his subject Minerva, her armor
partly laid aside, appearing as the guardian of civilization. She is
the Minerva of Peace, but Mr. Vedder indicates that the prosperity
which she now cherishes has been attained only through just and
righteous war, whether waged against a foreign enemy or against the
forces of disorder and corruption within. Beside her is a little
statue of Victory, such as the Greeks were accustomed to erect in
commemoration of their success in battle. The figure is that of a
winged woman standing on a globe, and holding out the laurel-wreath
and palm-branch to the victors. In the sky the clouds of disaster
and discouragement are rolled away and about to disappear, while
the sun of reappearing prosperity sends its rays into every quarter
of the land. Although her shield and helmet have been laid upon the
ground, the Goddess still retains the Ægis, and holds, in one hand,
like a staff, her long, two-headed spear, showing that she never
relaxes her vigilance against the enemies of the country which she
protects. For the present, however, her attention is all directed
to an unfolded scroll which she holds in her left hand. On this is
written a list of various departments of learning, science, and art,
such as Law, Statistics, Sociology, Botany, Bibliography, Mechanics,
Philosophy, Zoölogy, etc. To the left of Minerva is the owl, perched
upon the post of a low parapet. Olive trees, symbolizing peace, grow
in the field beyond. The armor of the Goddess is carefully studied
from ancient sculptures. The character of the Ægis can here be more
easily made out than in any of the other representations of Minerva
to be found in the building. Traditionally a cape of goat-skin, the
Greek artists finally came to overlay it with metal scales, like
scale-armor. The border is composed of twisting serpents. The head
of the Gorgon Medusa, which forms the central ornament, is used also
as the decoration of the large shield lying in the foreground of the
picture. The helmet is decorated with a pair of rams’ heads. Mr.
Vedder’s whole design is surrounded by a border containing, on either
side, a conventionalized laurel-tree displayed like a vine.
[Illustration: L’ALLEGRO.--BY W. B. VAN INGEN.]