All the murals in the Court of the Four Seasons are by H. Milton
Bancroft. In general they are less interesting than those of any other
court.
The Seasons. In the four corners of the colonnade there are eight
panels, grouped by twos as follows: Spring and Seed Time; Summer and
Fruition; Autumn and Harvest; and Winter and Festivity. There is little
to hold the attention either in richness of color or in unusual grace of
composition. Moreover, the artist has left nothing to the imagination in
the symbolism by which he expresses the several ideas. The devices are
so hackneyed, and the meaning so obvious, that any sort of
interpretation would be entirely superfluous.
Panels under half-dome. On the east wall under the dome is the panel Art
Crowned by Time. Father Time crowns Art, while on one side stand figures
representing Weaving, Jewelry, and Glasswork, and on the other Printing,
Pottery, and Smithery. On the opposite wall is the panel Man Receiving
Instruction in Nature's Laws. A woman holds before a babe a tablet
inscribed "Laws of Nature," while on one side are figures of Fire, Earth
and Water, and on the other figures of Death, Love, and Life. These two
larger panels are more pleasing than the eight representing the Seasons,
both in coloring and in figure composition; and they make pleasing spots
of bright color in the dome. But again the artist is tediously careful
to make his meanings plain. Not only does each figure hold its obvious
symbol prominently in view, but there are labels naming the figures. To
the art student the painter's stipple-and-line method, producing
vibration of light and a certain freshness of atmosphere, will be of
interest, as being out of the usual run of mural technique.
Before leaving the Court of the Four Seasons one should stand under the
central arch of the triple portal at the east, and look first to the
east through the Arch of the Setting Sun to the group "Nations of the
East;" and then to the west along the vista that ends with the kneeling
figure before the Fine Arts temple. The arrangement of architectural and
sculptural units in both vistas is worthy of study.