The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth
his handiwork.
_Psalms_ xix, 1.
=The Portrait Statues.=--The sixteen bronze statues set along the
balustrade of the galleries represent men illustrious in the various
forms of thought and activity typified in the figures just described.
The arrangement of the statues is in pairs, each pair flanking one
of the eight great piers of the Rotunda. The list of those who have
been thus selected to stand as typical representatives of human
development and civilization is as follows: Under _Religion_, Moses
and St. Paul; _Commerce_, Columbus and Robert Fulton; _History_,
Herodotus and Gibbon; _Art_, Michael Angelo (a single figure, but
standing at once for Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting) and
Beethoven; _Philosophy_, Plato and Lord Bacon; _Poetry_, Homer and
Shakespeare; _Law_, Solon and Chancellor Kent (the author of the
well-known _Commentaries_); _Science_, Newton and Professor Joseph
Henry. The sculptors were: of the _Moses_ and _Gibbon_, Mr. Charles
H. Niehaus; _St. Paul_, Mr. John Donoghue (the sculptor of the
figure of _Science_); _Columbus_ and _Michael Angelo_, Mr. Paul W.
Bartlett (who modelled the figure of _Law_); _Fulton_, Mr. Edward C.
Potter; _Herodotus_, Mr. Daniel C. French (_History_); _Beethoven_,
Mr. Theodore Baur (_Religion_); _Plato_ and _Bacon_, Mr. John J.
Boyle; _Homer_, Mr. Louis St. Gaudens; _Shakespeare_, Mr. Frederick
Macmonnies (who did the central doors at the Main Entrance);
_Solon_, Mr. F. Wellington Ruckstuhl (the sculptor of the busts of
Goethe, Macaulay, and Franklin, in the Entrance Portico); _Kent_, Mr.
George Bissell; _Newton_, Mr. C. E. Dallin; and _Henry_, Mr. Herbert
Adams, whom the visitor already knows for his work in connection with
Mr. Warner on the bronze entrance doors, as well as for his little
figures of Minerva in the Main Vestibule.
Of these figures, two, the _Moses_ and _St. Paul_, are ideal, though
modelled, in a general way, according to conventions long established
in Christian art. The _Solon_ is an original study, although, of
course, aiming to be entirely Greek in spirit and costume. The
_Homer_ follows an ancient ideal bust. The _Herodotus_ and _Plato_
are studied from original Greek sculptures. The features of the
other ten are taken from portraits from life, and the costumes are
accurately copied from contemporary fashions.
[Illustration: HERODOTUS. BY DANIEL C. FRENCH.]
The _Moses_ of Mr. Niehaus holds the Table of the Law, and, like
Michael Angelo’s famous figure, is horned--a curious convention
which crept into art from an ancient mistranslation of a passage in
Exodus. The _St. Paul_ is a bearded figure, one hand on the hilt of a
great two-edged sword, and the other holding a scroll. Mr. Ruckstuhl
has conceived his _Solon_ as the typical law-giver of the ancient
world. He is represented as stepping forward, clothed in all the
power of the state, to announce at a solemn gathering of the people
the supremacy of Law over Force. A fold of his garment is drawn
over his head with a certain priestly suggestion, as if the laws he
proclaimed were of divine origin. He holds aloft, in his left hand,
a scroll bearing the Greek words _OI NOMOI_, which, though meaning
simply “The Law,” were understood as referring especially to Solon’s
enactments. His right hand rests upon a sheathed and inverted sword,
which is wreathed with laurel. The idea is that law has supplanted
force, but that force is always ready to carry out the mandates
of the law. _Homer_ is represented with a staff in his hand and a
wreath of laurel crowning his head. Mr. French represents _Herodotus_
as a traveller, searching the known world for the materials of
his histories. His garments are girt up, he bears a long staff in
one hand, and shades his eyes with a scroll as he gazes into the
distance to discover his destination. The _Fulton_ carries a model
of a steamboat, and the _Henry_ an electro-magnet, for discoveries
in electrical science. The _Beethoven_ shows the composer with his
hand uplifted as if to beat the measure of the harmony which has
suddenly come into his mind--so suddenly that in the eagerness of his
movement he has pulled the pocket of his greatcoat inside out. Mr.
Macmonnies’s _Shakespeare_ is a somewhat novel study, so far as the
head is concerned; it is a composite of the portrait in the first
collected edition of the Plays and of the Stratford bust. The figure
of _Kent_ wears the judicial ermine; he carries in one hand the
manuscript of his _Commentaries_, and holds a pen in the other. Of
the other figures, some, like the _Gibbon_, carry a book or pen; but
in most instances the sculptor has sought merely to give his subject
an appropriately noble and contemplative attitude and expression,
without trying to introduce any special symbol of his work.
=Mr. Flanagan’s Clock.=[10]--Still another piece of sculpture--the
group ornamenting the great clock over the entrance to the
Rotunda--remains to be spoken of before passing on to a description
of the dome and Mr. Blashfield’s decorations. It is the work of Mr.
John Flanagan, the sculptor of the figure of _Commerce_, and, taken
altogether, is one of the most sumptuous and magnificent pieces of
decoration in the Library. The clock itself is constructed of various
brilliantly colored precious marbles, and is set against a background
of mosaic, on which are displayed, encircling the clock, the signs of
the zodiac, in bronze. Above is a life-size figure, executed in high
relief in bronze, of Father Time, striding forward scythe in hand. To
the left and right are the figures of maidens with children, also in
bronze, representing the Seasons. The dial of the clock is about four
feet in diameter; in the centre is a gilt glory, or “sunburst.” The
hands, which are also gilded, are jewelled with semi-precious stones.
[Illustration: THE ROTUNDA CLOCK. BY JOHN FLANAGAN.]
Including, of course, Mr. Weinert’s and Mr. Martiny’s work, it
will be seen that no less than nineteen American sculptors have
contributed to the decoration of the Rotunda. Considering the
room--just for the moment, and for the sake of the special point
of view--merely as a Gallery of Statuary, it will be seen how
important and representative a collection of American sculpture
has been brought together. The choosing of the sculptors to be
commissioned, and of the work to be assigned to each--not only here
but throughout the Library--were necessarily matters of very careful
consideration. To aid in this work, General Casey secured the advice
of the President of the National Sculpture Society (the authoritative
organization in such matters), then as now Mr. J. Q. A. Ward, who
associated with him as a committee two others of the most prominent
members of the Society. This committee went into the question very
thoroughly, and as a result recommended the sculptors for the
Entrance Portico, the bronze entrance doors, the Commemorative Arch
in the Staircase Hall, and the Rotunda. Their advice was accepted
_in toto_, with the result, barring a few changes made necessary by
subsequent circumstances, that the visitor has now seen.
[Illustration: DETAIL OF THE ROTUNDA. SHOWING THE STATUE OF GIBBON.]
=The Lighting of the Rotunda.=--The soffits of the arches upholding
the dome are ornamented with a row of plain coffers; the larger
arches which roof the alcoves within, carry a triple row of more
elaborate coffers, each with a gilt rosette. The windows of
stained glass, already spoken of as enclosed by these arches, are
semicircular in form and measure thirty-two feet across at the
base. They furnish the greater part of the light needed for the
illumination of the room. No shadows are cast in any direction. Being
so high above the floor, the light from them is much more effective
than if they were nearer the level of the reader’s eye. They are
better even than skylights, and with none of the disadvantages of
skylights. Other sources of light are the various little windows
pierced in the four walls of the Octagon which face the interior
courts; and, above, the eight windows of the Lantern. It has been
said that no reading room in the world is so well lighted--so
steadily, abundantly and uniformly, whether on the brightest or the
darkest day. Mr. Blashfield’s paintings in the dome, for example, can
hardly be said to receive direct light from a single window in the
room, but for all that, so perfectly is the light diffused, they are
as easily made out as any decorations in the building.
In the evening, the light, which is furnished entirely by electric
lamps, is quite as perfect in its way as in the daytime. In the
second story of the arcading of the marble screens, a brass rod
runs between the capitals of each arch, supporting in the centre
a brass star of eight points, each point an electric lamp of
thirty-two-candle power. With seven of these in each screen (except
the west, where Mr. Flanagan’s clock leaves room for only four), and
eight screens, one has a total of four hundred and twenty-four lamps
thus used. Above the cornice of the second entablature is a great
ring containing three hundred and eight more. Similarly, a line of
fifty lamps occurs at the bottom of each of the semicircular windows,
making four hundred in all; and in the eye of the lantern, so placed,
however, that the lamps themselves are invisible, is a second ring
numbering forty-six. On the floor, the reading desks are equipped,
altogether, with sixty-eight bronze standards, each bearing three
lamps, or two hundred and four in all. Add the number, seventy-six,
which serve to light the Distributing Desk and the lower story of
the alcoves, and the result is a grand total of fourteen hundred and
fifty-eight, and a total candle-power of upwards of forty thousand.
When the current is turned on and all these lamps are lit, the
Rotunda presents a spectacle of light and shadow worth going far to
see.
[Illustration: SEALS OF WASHINGTON AND KANSAS.--BY H. T. SCHLADERMUNDT.
WITH AUTHORIZED SEAL OF KANSAS IN THE CENTRE.]
=The Semicircular Windows.=--It is calculated that, by putting
stained glass in the eight semicircular windows, the amount of light
admitted has been diminished almost exactly one-eighth; in other
words, the result is the same as if one of the eight had been quite
closed up. The loss, of course, is hardly appreciated in a room
sufficiently supplied with light from such a number of sources.
The windows are double, with about four inches between the two
sashes. The glass used for the outside is plain, but of different
degrees of translucency, according as it is necessary to prevent
the entrance of direct sunshine, which, if admitted, would be
disagreeable to the occupant of the room and would distort the
desirable even effect of the stained glass within. Thus, in the east
and west, ribbed skylight glass is used; in the southeast, south, and
southwest, ribbed and ground glass; while on the other three sides,
where the sun never comes, the glass is left perfectly clear.
The cartoons for the stained glass were made by Mr. Schladermundt,
after designs prepared by the architect, Mr. Casey. The ground is a
crackled white, leaded throughout into small, square panes. In order
to give an effect of boldness and strength, the windows are divided
vertically by heavy iron bars. The design is surrounded by a richly
colored border of laurel, combined with rosettes and Roman fasces.
At the top, in the middle of each window, is the great seal of the
United States, four feet high, surmounted by the American eagle,
whose outstretched wings measure eight feet from tip to tip. To the
right and left, following the curve of the window, are the seals of
the States and Territories, three on a side, or six in each window,
so that forty-eight--excluding only Alaska and Indian Territory--are
contained in the eight windows. Torches alternate with the seals, and
the fasces are introduced at the bottom.
The name of the State or Territory is inscribed above each seal,
with the date of the year in which it was admitted to the Union, or
organized under a territorial form of government. The seals occur
in the order of their dates, the series beginning with the Thirteen
Original States--which start in the easterly window in the order in
which they signed the Constitution--and continuing around the room
to the three Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma. Taken
all in all they form one of the most interesting decorations in the
Library, for the reason that the artist has succeeded in making a
harmonious whole out of a very heterogeneous collection of designs.
The originals, of course, were separately drawn, often by persons
unacquainted with heraldry, and never with any particular thought of
fitting them into a single series like the present. The result is
that these originals show the greatest diversity of treatment. The
key, so to speak, is continually changing. Sometimes, for example,
a figure introduced in the foreground is dwarfed by an altogether
disproportionate background, while in other cases the figure
overpowers everything else; copied exactly, any heraldic or artistic
unity of effect would be entirely lacking. Accordingly, after getting
together a complete collection of the seals--in every instance
an authentic impression of the original obtained from the State
secretary--Mr. Schladermundt re-drew, and often almost redesigned
his material to bring it into accordance with his decorative scheme.
Just what it was that Mr. Schladermundt undertook to do may best
be seen in the accompanying engravings of the Seal of Kansas, the
first giving the seal as used on official papers, the second copied
from Mr. Schladermundt’s cartoon. It will be seen that the spirit of
the seal and its heraldic intention are the same in both. The only
difference is that in Mr. Schladermundt’s design certain changes of
proportion have been made to make the seal harmonize with the style
to which the artist wished to have all his designs adhere. In many
cases, particularly in the seals of the Thirteen Original States, the
original has hardly been changed at all. In the seal of the State of
Washington, indeed, which consists merely of a portrait of Washington
himself, Mr. Schladermundt has unobtrusively added the Washington
arms in the upper corner of the design, in order to suggest the
desirable heraldic conventionality more fully; occasionally, too, it
has been necessary to omit certain minor details as being unsuited to
the breadth of treatment necessary in stained glass--but, as a rule,
Mr. Schladermundt has followed very carefully the specifications
contained in the authoritative legislative enactments.
[Illustration: DOME ORNAMENT. BY ALBERT WEINERT.]
=The Dome.=--A vertical section of the dome of the Rotunda would show
an exact half circle, with a diameter of one hundred feet. As has
been said before, the dome is of stucco, applied to a framework of
iron and steel, filled in with terra cotta. Although, as previously
described, it appears to rest upon the deep upper entablature, it
really springs immediately from the eight arches resting upon the
great piers. The entablature, as will be seen on a close inspection,
bears no part in the construction. It is projected so far forward
from the dome that one may easily walk between the two.
The entablature is about seven feet high, with a richly moulded
architrave and a heavy projecting cornice. The ground of the frieze
is gilt, with a relief ornament in white of eagles standing upon
hemispheres and holding in their beaks a heavy garland of laurel.
Over the north, south, east, and west arches, are two female
figures--the work of Mr. Philip Martiny--represented as seated upon
the architrave moulding and supporting a heavy cartouche--another
instance of the emphasis which the architect has so often placed upon
the four main axes of the building.
[Illustration: HALF FIGURES. BY ALBERT WEINERT.]
=The Stucco Ornamentation.=--The dome is so simply planned that
a description of its main features may be given in a very brief
space. The surface is filled with a system of square coffers. The
ornamentation of the body of the dome is in arabesque. The eight
ribs which mark off the dome into compartments are each divided into
two by a band of gilded ornament resembling a guilloche. The coffers
diminish in size from four and a half feet square at the bottom to
two and a half feet at the top. The total number of coffers is three
hundred and twenty--or forty in each compartment, and also in each
horizontal row, and eight in each vertical row. The ground of the
coffers is blue, the sky-color, as if one were really looking out
into the open air--and therefore the color traditionally used in
coffering. To give sparkle and brilliancy, many shades and kinds of
blue are used, the darker and heavier at the bottom, and the lighter
and airier toward the top. The transition is so gradual and natural
that the eye does not perceive any definite change, but only a
generally increased vividness. The border mouldings of the coffers
are cream-colored--old ivory is the usual term--strongly touched with
gold, and in the centre of each is a great gold rosette.
Although the purpose of the dome arabesque is primarily to give an
agreeable impression of light and shade, the individual figures
of which it is composed are nearly as interesting a study as the
general effect of the whole. The variety of the figures is almost
bewildering--lions’ heads, sea-horses, dolphins, urns, cartouches,
griffins, shells, storks, caryatides, tridents, eagles, cherubs,
half-figures, geniuses--altogether something like forty-five
principal type-designs, interwoven with very many smaller but no
less beautiful pieces of ornament. All are adapted from Renaissance
models of the best and purest period, and are combined with the
utmost spirit and harmony in an arabesque whose every portion has
equal artistic value. No single figure catches the eye; broad
horizontal and vertical bands of decoration, gradually diminishing as
they approach the top, encircle and ascend the dome, each with its
particular “note” of arrangement and design, but all cunningly united
to form an indisputable whole, everywhere balanced and restrained.
[Illustration: DETAIL OF THE DOME.]
It may be of interest to the visitor to learn that one of the
most novel and ingenious pieces of engineering connected with the
construction of the Library was a so-called “travelling” or rotary
scaffold, devised by Mr. Green for the use of the workmen employed on
the stucco decorations of the dome. It may be likened to a huge pair
of steps, ascending from the upper entablature to the lantern. Its
upper end thrust against an iron pintle secured to beams laid across
the eye of the lantern, and was steadied at the bottom by a pair of
flanged wheels, which travelled on a track in the entablature, so
that the whole apparatus could be traversed entirely round the room.
The various stages or landings were adjusted to fit the concave of
the dome, with the result that the accuracy of the curve could be
tested with almost mathematical exactness. At one time two of these
scaffolds were swung to the same pintle.
=Mr. Blashfield’s Paintings.=--The position of Mr. Blashfield’s
decorations in the Collar and Lantern of the dome is the noblest and
most inspiring in the Library. They are literally and obviously the
crowning glory of the building, and put the final touch of completion
on the whole decorative scheme of the interior. The visitor will
see how, without them, not a painting in the building would seem to
remain solidly and easily in its place, for they occupy not only the
highest, but the exact central point of the Library, to which, in a
sense, every other is merely relative.
As was hinted in the description of Mr. Vedder’s paintings, Mr.
Blashfield was almost necessarily drawn to select some such subject
as he has here chosen--the Evolution of Civilization, the records of
which it is the function of a great library to gather and preserve.
The ceiling of the Lantern is sky and air, against which, as a
background, floats the beautiful female figure representing the
Human Understanding, lifting her veil and looking upward from
Finite Intellectual Achievement (typified in the circle of figures
in the collar) to that which is beyond; in a word, Intellectual
Progress looking upward and forward. She is attended by two cherubs,
or geniuses; one holds the book of wisdom and knowledge, the other
seems, by his gesture, to be encouraging those beneath to persist in
their struggle towards perfection.
The decoration of the collar consists of a ring of twelve seated
figures, male and female, ranged against a wall of mosaic patterning.
They are of colossal size, measuring, as they sit, about ten feet
in height. They represent the twelve countries, or epochs, which
have contributed most to the development of present-day civilization
in this country. Beside each is a tablet, decorated with palms,
on which is inscribed the name of the country typified, and below
this, on a continuous banderole or streamer, is the name of some
chief or typical contribution of that country to the sum of human
excellence. The figures follow each other in chronological order,
beginning, appropriately enough, at the East, the East being the
cradle of civilization. The list is as follows: _Egypt_, typifying
Written Records; _Judea_, Religion; _Greece_, Philosophy; _Rome_,
Administration; _Islam_, Physics; _The Middle Ages_, Modern
Languages; _Italy_, the Fine Arts; _Germany_, the Art of Printing;
_Spain_, Discovery; _England_, Literature; _France_, Emancipation;
and _America_, Science.
[Illustration: BACON. BY JOHN J. BOYLE.]
Each figure is winged, as representing an ideal, but the wings, which
overlap each other regularly throughout, serve mainly to unite the
composition in a continuous whole, and in no case have been allowed
to hamper the artist in his effort to make each figure the picture of
a living, breathing man or woman. Four of the twelve figures, it will
be observed, stand out more conspicuously than the rest on account
of the lighter tone of their drapery--_Egypt_, _Rome_, _Italy_,
and _England_. They occupy respectively the east, south, west, and
north points in the decoration, and furnish another instance of the
stress that has been laid, throughout the Library, upon the four
cardinal points of the compass which govern the axial lines of the
building, and which in turn have been enriched and dignified in
the final decorative scheme of the interior. Each of these axial
figures is painted in a more rigid attitude than those beside it,
and forms, as will be noticed, the centre of a triad, or group of
three, each of the flanking figures leaning more or less obviously
toward it. It should be noted that there was no intention on the
part of the painter to magnify the importance of the four figures
thus represented over any of the others. The emphasis of color is
solely for decorative purposes. The arrangement being chronological,
Mr. Blashfield was unable to exercise much control over the order
in which each figure should occur, and still retain his original
selection of countries.
_Egypt_ is represented by a male figure clad in the waistcloth and
cap with lappets so familiar in the ancient monuments. The idea of
Written Records is brought out by the tablet he supports with his
left hand, on which is inscribed in hieroglyphics the cartouche or
personal seal of Mena, the first recorded Egyptian king; and by the
case of books at his feet, which is filled with manuscript rolls
of papyrus, the Egyptian paper. Besides the idea of Writing and
Recording, Mr. Blashfield brings out the fact that the Egyptians were
among the first who held the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.
The figure holds in the right hand the Tau, or cross with a ring
head, the emblem of life both in this world and beyond it; and on the
tablet behind his feet is the winged ball, the more familiar symbol
of the same idea.
_Judea_ is shown as a woman lifting her hands in an ecstatic prayer
to Jehovah. The over-garment which she wears falls partly away, and
discloses the ephod, which was a vestment worn by the high priests,
ornamented with a jewelled breastplate and with onyx shoulder clasps
set in gold, on which were engraved the names of the Twelve Tribes of
Israel. On the face of a stone pillar set beside her is inscribed,
in Hebrew characters, the injunction, as found in Leviticus, xix,
18: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself--a sentence selected as
being perhaps the noblest single text contributed by the Jewish race
to the system of modern morality. In her lap is a scroll, containing,
presumably, a portion of the Scriptures; and at her feet is a censer,
typical of the Hebrew ritualism.
[Illustration: THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.--BY E. H. BLASHFIELD.]
The figure of _Greece_ is distinctly suggestive, so far as attitude
and drapery are concerned, of one of the beautiful little Tanagra
figures of terra-cotta--so called from the ancient Greek town in
which they were first discovered--which are so familiar to students
of Greek art. A bronze lamp is set beside her, and in her lap
is a scroll--the emblems of wisdom. Her head is crowned with a
diadem--possibly with a reference to the City of the Violet Crown,
Athens, the Mother of Philosophy.
_Rome_, the second axial figure, wears the armor of a centurion, or
captain in a legion. A lion’s skin, the mark of a standard-bearer,
is thrown over him, the head covering the top of his casque. The
whole conception is that of the just but inexorable administration
of Rome founded upon the power of its arms. One foot is planted upon
the lower drum of a marble column, signifying stability. His right
arm rests upon the fasces, or bundle of rods, the typical emblem of
the Roman power and rule. In his right hand he holds the baton of
command.
_Islam_ is an Arab, standing for the Moorish race which introduced
into Europe not only an improved science of Physics, as here used
by Mr. Blashfield in its older and less restricted sense--but
of mathematics and astronomy also. His foots rests upon a glass
retort, and he is turning over the leaves of a book of mathematical
calculations.
By the term _Middle Ages_, represented by the female figure which
comes next in the decoration, is usually understood the epoch
beginning with the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire in 455
and ending with the discovery of America in 1492. No single country
is here indicated, for Europe was throughout that period in a state
of flux, so to say, in the movement of which the principal modern
languages were finally evolved from the Latin and Teutonic tongues.
But it was an epoch notable for many other things, also. The figure
typifying the epoch is distinguished by an expression at once grave
and passionate, and has a sword, casque and cuirass, emblematic of
the great institution of Chivalry; a model of a cathedral, standing
for Gothic Architecture, which was brought to its greatest perfection
in these thousand years; and a papal tiara and the keys of St. Peter,
signifying mediæval devotion and the power of the Church.
[Illustration: SECTION OF THE DOME DECORATION.--BY EDWIN H.
BLASHFIELD.]
The next figure, _Italy_--the Italy of the Renaissance--is shown with
symbols of four of the Fine Arts which she represents--Painting,
Sculpture, Architecture, and Music. She holds a palette in her left
hand, and with the brush in her right seems about to lay another
stroke of color on her canvas. To her left is a statuette after
Michael Angelo’s celebrated _David_, in Florence. At her feet is a
Renaissance capital; and leaning against the wall a violin, at once
the typical musical instrument and that in the manufacture of which
the Italians peculiarly excelled.
_Germany_ is the printer, turning from his press--a hand-press,
accurately copied from early models--to examine the proof-sheet he
has just pulled. His right foot is placed upon a pile of sheets
already corrected, and a roller for inking lies convenient to his
hand.
_Spain_ is the sixteenth century Spanish adventurer. He wears a steel
morion on his head, and is clad in a leathern jerkin. Holding the
tiller of a ship in his right hand, he seems to be watching for land
to appear in the sea. Beside him is a globe of the earth, and at his
feet a model of a caravel, the sort of ship in which Columbus sailed
on his voyages, is introduced.
_England_ wears the ruff and full sleeves of the time of
Elizabeth--the era when English Literature, both poetry and prose,
was at its highest. She is crowned with laurel--the reward of
literature--and bears in her lap an open book of Shakespeare’s
Plays--the right-hand page with a facsimile of the title-page of the
first edition of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, dated 1600.
[Illustration: SECTION OF THE DOME DECORATION.--BY EDWIN H.
BLASHFIELD.]
_France_, standing for Emancipation and the great revolutionary
upheaval of the eighteenth century, is dressed in a characteristic
garb of the First Republic--a jacket with lapels, a tricolor scarf,
and a liberty-cap with a tricolor cockade. She sits on a cannon and
carries a drum, a bugle, and a sword--emblems of her military crusade
in behalf of liberty. In her left hand she displays a scroll bearing
the words “Les Droits de l’Homme,” the famous Declaration of the
Rights of Man adopted by the French Assembly in 1789.
The twelfth and last figure, bringing us once more round to the east,
is that of _America_--represented as an engineer, in the garb of the
machine-shop, sitting lost in thought over a problem of mechanics he
has encountered. He leans his chin upon the palm of one hand, while
the other holds the scientific book which he has been consulting.
In front of him is an electric dynamo--recalling the part which the
United States has taken in the advancement of electrical science.
On the base of the dynamo, Mr. Blashfield has signed his work in an
inscription which recalls also the name of the artist who assisted
him in laying it upon the plaster: “These decorations were designed
and executed by Edwin Howland Blashfield, assisted by Arthur Reginald
Willett, A. D. MDCCCLXXXXVI.”
The visitor will perhaps have been a little perplexed by the familiar
appearance of some of the faces in Mr. Blashfield’s decoration. It
is an interesting fact that in several cases Mr. Blashfield has
introduced a resemblance, more or less distinct, to the features of
some real person in order to give greater variety, and, above all,
greater vitality to his figures. The persons chosen were selected
because the character of their features seemed to him peculiarly
suited to the type which he wished to represent. In the case of
Abraham Lincoln--the figure of _America_--and of General Casey--the
_Germany_--the choice was fitting for other reasons. Among the female
figures, _The Middle Ages_ is Mrs. De Navarro (Mary Anderson), and
_England_, Miss Ellen Terry. The faces of _Italy_ and _Spain_ are
from sketches made from Miss Amy Rose, a young sculptor in New York,
and Mr. William Bailey Faxon, the painter, respectively. _France_
suggests the features of the artist’s wife. Throughout, however,
it must be remembered that, to use Mr. Blashfield’s own words, “no
portraiture has been attempted, but only characterization.”
[Illustration: HENRY. BY HERBERT ADAMS.]
=The Rotunda Color Scheme.=--One can hardly leave this description of
the decoration of the Rotunda without a word respecting the general
color scheme. Beginning with the brown, red, and yellow marbles at
the base, one ends with the pure whites and bright greens and violets
of Mr. Blashfield’s final decoration. The difference between these
two extremes has been bridged over by the use of harmonizing colors
on the walls and in the dome. The Pompeiian red of the alcove walls
and the pendentives is suggested by the Numidian marble of the piers.
A touch of brown on the wall below the semicircular windows echoes
the brown Tennessee base, and the yellow predominant in the alcove
arches above derives from the Sienna screens. These last, again, in
their lightest portions, strike the key for the “old ivory”--the
delicate gray yellow--which, either deeper or lighter, is always the
ruling tone of the entablature, the dome, and the sculptural figures
in plaster. The coffers of the dome, one will notice by looking
closely, are defined by a narrow band of yellow or red--yellow
throughout one whole compartment, and red in the next. The former
carries up (more markedly than in the ivory-toned stucco) the color
of the screens; the latter the color of the piers. The blue ground,
moreover, and the yellow stripe create together, whether one will or
not, an impression of green upon the eye, because green is compounded
of blue and yellow; and the blue and the red, in turn, create an
impression of violet, for a similar reason. Thus, the visitor,
glancing up to the decorations of the collar, is already prepared
for Mr. Blashfield’s two dominating tones. The white is expected as
the natural result of a color scheme which has been steadily growing
lighter from the beginning, and, after being used in Mr. Blashfield’s
painting, it is at last appropriately employed almost solely in the
lantern which crowns the whole Rotunda. Finally, considering the room
as a whole, it will be noted that the profuse use of gold throughout
the dome and lantern is not only legitimately suggested by the Sienna
marble, but of itself helps to keep the various colors--in marble or
stucco--in what may be called a more complete “state of solution”
than would otherwise have been possible. By attracting attention to
itself, it softens the contrasts between the other colors.
The floor of the Rotunda is a kind of mosaic, known as _terrazzo_,
ornamented with great concentric bands of Tennessee marble.
_Terrazzo_, sometimes called “chip mosaic” or “granito,” is made by
sprinkling a layer of small pieces of marble upon a bed of Portland
cement, rolling it all down so that the pieces are thoroughly
embedded, and, after it is dry, rubbing it down smooth with
sandstone. When carefully prepared, it makes an especially durable
floor.
[Illustration: NEWTON. BY C. E. DALLIN.]
=Provision for Readers.=--The reading desks are arranged in three
circles, surrounding the Distributing Desk as a centre. Each row
contains eight desks, leaving room between for aisles radiating from
the central desk. They are constructed of dark, heavy mahogany, and
are supported on iron standards with gratings admitting warm or fresh
air, for heating and ventilation. The inmost row is a combination of
reading-tables, settees, and standing writing-desks, with shelves
for reference books,--encyclopædias, dictionaries, directories,
atlases, etc.,--of which there is a very full selection. The outer
rows are double-faced, and arranged exclusively for persons reading
and studying. Allowing each a space of four feet, the desks are
capable of seating altogether two hundred and forty-six readers.
Including the alcoves, which, on account of the number of separate
spaces they contain, are well adapted to the use of special students,
particularly those desiring to turn over a large number of books at
one time, the total number of readers that can be accommodated in the
Rotunda is two hundred and eighty-nine.
The Distributing Desk is surrounded by a circular counter for
attendants, and for delivering and receiving books, and cases
containing a card catalogue of the Library, arranged alphabetically
in shallow drawers according to the subject, author, and title. It
has been the policy of the Library from the beginning, moreover, to
issue its catalogue in printed volumes, new editions being prepared
as the old ones became obsolete on account of fresh accessions. Of
late years, however, the Library has grown so enormously that the
annual appropriations of Congress have not been sufficient to warrant
this undertaking. The latest volumes were published in 1881, and
carried the catalogue only through the letter “C.”
Within the enclosures formed by these various desks and cabinets is a
small elevator for bringing books by the truck-load from the basement
story. The Distributing Desk itself is built of mahogany, ornamented
with panelling and carving. On the east side it consists of a high
station for the use of the Superintendent--the officer in charge
in the Rotunda--who is thus able to keep in touch with everything
doing in the room. On the other side is a cabinet containing the
terminus of the system of book-carrying apparatus connecting the
Reading Room and Stacks, and in the centre is a stairway leading
to the basement. Along the front of the desk, also, is a row of
twenty-four pneumatic tubes for the transmission of messages, either
in cylindrical pouches, as in the case of the written applications
which those desiring to draw books are required to make out, or
verbally, by means of a mouth-piece with which each tube is equipped.
Nine tubes go to the North Stack and nine to the South Stack, or one
for every floor. Four go to the East Stack, or one to every other
floor. An attendant for any portion of the stack system can thus be
reached at a moment’s notice. Of the other two tubes, one goes to the
Librarian’s Room and the other connects with the Capitol.
Each tube is numbered, and is operated by pressing a button, the
action of which indicates, also, when the pouch is delivered at the
other end. Each tube terminates in a separate bronze case or box,
which is heavily cushioned, and closed by self-shutting glass doors
in order to prevent noise. The tube enters at the bottom, and the
pouch is thrown against a curved “hood,” so called, which guides it
to one side so that it may not fall back into the mouth of the tube.
[Illustration: KENT. BY GEORGE E. BISSELL.]
=The Book-Carrying Apparatus.=--The main features of the
book-carrying apparatus were suggested by Mr. Green, although worked
out with the assistance of ingenious mechanics. The apparatus is in
two parts, each separately operated, the first of which connects with
the North Stack and the second with the South Stack. The East Stack
is so much less extensive than the other two that it was thought more
economical to rely solely upon the services of the attendants for
the delivery and return of the books it contained. Each section of
the apparatus (north or south) consists of a pair of endless chains
kept continuously in motion, at the rate of about one hundred feet a
minute, by means of power furnished by an electric dynamo. These two
chains run from the terminal cabinet to the basement; thence on a
level to the stacks; and from there directly up a small well to the
top floor, where they turn and descend.
The cable carries eighteen trays, distributed at regular intervals.
Each tray is capable of carrying a volume the size of the ordinary
quarto, (say eleven inches by ten, and four inches thick), or its
equivalent in smaller volumes. Larger books must be carried by hand
down the elevator with which each stack is provided. The tray is
of brass, made in the form of a hooked comb, the ends of the teeth
being left free. The terminal cabinet and all the stack stories are
provided with toothed slides, the teeth of which engage with those
of the trays, and rake off or deliver the books, as the case may be.
If one bends and slightly opens the fingers of both hands, and then
draws the fingers of one through those of the other, the general
principle of the arrangement will immediately be seen. The tray,
however, can receive books only when going up, and can deliver them
only when coming down. When a book is received by a slide it falls
into a padded basket, ready to be taken to its place on the shelves
or delivered to the reader. When the attendant desires to deliver a
book to the Rotunda, he places it on the slide, and sets the latter
so that it will be ready to meet the first tray which arrives. In
returning books, the officer at the Distributing Desk must set a
little lever on a dial at the number of the stack for which the book
is intended. When the tray approaches the proper floor, the slide is
automatically pushed out to receive the load.
[Illustration: FULTON. BY EDWARD C. POTTER.]
=Connection with the Capitol.=--It is calculated that, by means of
the pneumatic tubes and the book-carrying apparatus, it will require
no more than six or seven minutes to bring a book from the stacks,
from the time it is first called for. Valuable, however, as is
the use of machinery in connecting widely distant portions of the
Library, it is even more important as a factor in bringing together
the Library itself and the Capitol, where hardly an hour passes,
during a session of Congress, but some member desires to draw books
for immediate use in debate or committee work. The distance between
the two buildings is about a quarter of a mile (twelve hundred and
seventy-five feet). This is covered by a tunnel having at one end a
terminus in the basement almost immediately beneath the Distributing
Desk, and at the other end in a room in the Capitol about midway
between the Senate and House of Representatives. The tunnel is built
of brick, is perfectly dry, and about six feet high and four feet
wide, or just large enough for a man to enter and make any needed
repairs. An endless cable, kept moving by a similar force to that
which supplies the apparatus connecting with the stacks, carries
two trays back and forth between the terminals, receiving and
delivering books by the same arrangement of teeth as has just been
described. The trays are much larger, however, than the others, and
are capable of containing the largest volumes, such as bound volumes
of newspapers. The speed at which the cable runs is about six hundred
feet a minute, delivering a book at the Capitol within three minutes
after it has left the Library. In addition to the book-carrier, the
tunnel contains the pneumatic tube already spoken of, and the wires
of private telephones connecting the two Houses of Congress with
the Distributing Desk. So quickly can a message be sent and a book
returned, that it is said that a Congressman can get the volumes he
desires in less time than it would have taken him when the Library
occupied its old quarters in the Capitol itself.