In the same way that the room decorated by Mr. Maynard has been
called the Pavilion of the Discoverers, so the Southeast Pavilion
may be called the Pavilion of the Elements, from the subject of the
paintings ornamenting the tympanums and the disc. The tympanums are
by Mr. Robert L. Dodge, and the disc by Mr. Garnsey and Mr. Dodge
working in conjunction, the former making the ornamental design and
the latter designing and carrying out the figure-work.
=Mr. R. L. Dodge’s Paintings.=--Each of the four tympanums is devoted
to a single Element: the east tympanum to _Earth_, the north to
_Air_, the west to _Fire_, and the south to _Water_. The composition,
which is very simple, is uniform throughout. In the middle of the
tympanum is a group of three figures typifying the subject of the
decoration--the central figure standing and the other two seated. The
latter are of women, but to prevent monotony, the standing figures
are alternately male and female--male in the tympanums of _Earth_ and
_Fire_, and female in those of _Air_ and _Water_. The central figure
holds up in either hand an end of a heavy garland of flowers, which,
stretching in a single festoon to the extremity of the tympanum, is
there caught up by a little boy or genius. In the middle of each half
of the picture, and in each tympanum the same on both sides, is an
ornamental bronze column flanked on either hand by a bronze standard
or tripod, all three united by floating streamers or ribands into a
single group, and each serving as a pedestal on which to place some
emblems of the Element represented.
In the tympanum of _Earth_ the idea is the fertility and
bounteousness of the soil. In the central group the figure to the
right leans her arm upon an amphora or ancient wine-jar, and holds
in her hand a rose. The figure to the left is that of a reaper, with
a wreath of grains on her head and a bundle of wheat by her side,
and holding in her hand a sickle. The geniuses at the ends of the
decoration are dancing for jollity. The background is a smiling and
luxuriant summer landscape, the fruits of which, the peach, the plum,
the pear, the grape and the rest, are displayed in the great garlands
which the central figure holds up with outstretched arms. The bronze
columns support baskets of fruit, and on the accompanying standards
are perched magnificent peacocks. The border of the decoration
includes masks, urns and lions, the last emblematic of the subject of
the decoration.
The central figure in the decoration typifying _Air_ stands upon
a bank of clouds; she is winged, and a large star blazes on her
forehead. Of the figures to her right and left, the first is
winged and the second carries the caduceus. The festoons are of
morning glories, upheld at the further ends by flying geniuses.
The background is sky and clouds. The central standards carry
astrolabes, as being the typical astronomical instrument of a few
centuries ago, and eagles are perched on those to the side. In the
border, winged griffins are substituted for lions.
The background of the third tympanum, _Fire_, is a mountainous and
volcanic region, its peaks touched with lurid light from constant
eruptions. The festoons are composed of sunflowers, and the seated
figures in the centre carry each a flaming torch. The columns to the
right and left bear flaming globes, while the flanking standards
support the fiery nest of the phœnix--the bird which was fabled by
the ancients to live, sole of its species, five hundred years, at the
end of which time it repaired to the desert and built a funeral pyre,
in the flames of which it was consumed. From its ashes as a nest a
new phœnix arose, as here depicted. In the border of the decoration
are salamanders, which, according to the old superstition, lived in
the midst of fire.
In the last tympanum, _Water_, the central figure, clad in green,
holds festoons of seaweed and water-lilies--flowers, buds and pads.
On either side is a mermaid, one of them with a seashell. The
background is the open sea. The standards are in the form of rostral
columns (such as the Romans erected in honor of their victorious
admirals) ornamented with garlands of laurel and the beaks and sterns
of captured ships. On top is set a galley, with oars and sails. Over
each of the standards to the side hovers a sea gull. The geniuses at
the end of the picture have tails like mermaids, and in the border
are dolphins.
The disc of the ceiling repeats in another form the general idea of
the decorations of the tympanums. In the centre is the sun, across
which the sun-god, Apollo, drives his four-horse chariot. The sun,
however, is still the sun, and not a yellow background; the dusky
picture outlined against it is to be taken as a vision, so to say, of
its attributes.
Around the sun as a centre, is painted a chain of alternate
medallions and cartouches--four of each, or eight in all--which
typify the Four Elements represented in the tympanums below. A
medallion and a cartouche are devoted to each. The former sort are
painted so as to suggest a cameo design. The first of them, which
occurs, like the other three, on the side nearest the tympanum of the
corresponding subject, typifies _Earth_, a female figure reclined
amidst a summer landscape. In her hand is a scythe, and behind her is
a plow, standing in the midst of a wheat field. _Water_ is a mermaid
riding off a rocky shore on the back of a dolphin. In her hand she
holds an oar. _Fire_ is a woman watching the smoke which floats away
from the flame of a little brazier at her side. Behind her is a
tripod on which incense is burning. In the distance is Mt. Vesuvius,
sending out a steady cloud of smoke, and in the plain beneath are the
ruins of Pompeii. _Air_ is a female figure clad in flowing drapery,
and floating among the clouds on the outstretched wings of an eagle.
The cartouches are more simply designed. That of _Earth_ contains a
tortoise, on the back of which, according to the Hindoo mythology,
the earth is ultimately supported. _Air_ is typified by a swan;
_Fire_, by a lamp; and _Water_ by two intertwined dolphins. Finally
the whole decoration is surrounded by a broad band of arabesque
ornament, in which are placed the signs of the Zodiac.