The Court of the Four Seasons, unlike the other main courts, does not
immediately call forth one's exclamations of surprise and delight. It is
not so compellingly beautiful as either of the others. Nevertheless it
has a distinctive charm of its own-a reposeful atmosphere and a
simplicity of form that become more and more appealing with riper
acquaintance. It is a good place to come to when one is satiated with
the beauties of the other courts, for restfulness is the keynote. The
simple massive style of the architecture and the simple planting scheme
combine to produce a spirit of calm. The ideas of energy, achievement,
progress, effort-so insistently emphasized elsewhere-are left
behind, and everything breathes a sense of peace and orderliness, of
things happening all in good season.
The primary idea underlying the decorative features of the court is
sufficiently indicated in the name, "The Four Seasons;" and this idea is
symbolically expressed in the sculpture and mural paintings in the four
corners of the colonnade. But a study of the other decorations shows
that the idea of abundance, or fruitfulness, was equally in the minds of
architect and sculptors. The purely architectural ornaments, such as the
capitals and the running borders, employ the symbols of agriculture and
fruitfulness, while no less than five of the main sculptural groups or
figures deal directly with harvest themes.