1 nately. Over all runs a cornice, from which springs the dome itself, similarily divided by sixteen decorated ribs, the intervening spaces being encrusted with Renaissance arabesques. The ribs unite in a collar from which rises the cupola—again an arrangement of pilasters and windows, like the dome; but, by comparison, in miniature. The corridors communicating with the caucus rooms and libraries of the Senate and House present a series of lunette-shaped spaces for which paintings are being executed by Messrs. John W. Alexander and W. B. Van Ingen. The main entrance to the Senate and House are from the great gallery in the rotunda, through doorways surmounted with figures sculptured by Mr. V. Alfano. It is in these chambers that the most elaborate effects of decoration have been produced. The Senate Chamber is square, 95 by 80 feet, fifteen feet of the latter belonging to the visitors' gallery, which is separated by arches from the main room. From its walls project at intervals Doric pilasters, which rise from a massive marble wainscot and support a frieze. Above this is a series of curved recesses, forming a system of vaulting that carries the flat of the ceiling, which itself is divided by crossbeams into coffers. From the intersection of the beams hang immense candelabra of gilded bronze. The same general description will serve for the larger chamber of the House, except that in the latter the style is Corinthian and the details of the decoration are more profuse. The wainscot of the Senate chamber is veneered with superb specimens of Irish green Connemara marble, which is the key for the color scheme. The ground color of the whole interior involves three tones of dullish green. Up to the top of the frieze the gold enrichment is comparatively reserved; in the raised arabesque ornament of the coves and the mouldings and rosettes of the ceiling, it has been used with a lavish hand, the brilliance of the effect being much enhanced by the lustre of the candelabra. In the chamber of the House the green ground has been replaced by various tones of deep blue. Both color schemes have been approved by Mr. Abbey, who received the commission for a series of mural paintings that are to complete the architect's plan of decoration. The latter, as I have hinted, is characterized by a luxuriance of effect somewhat startling to those who are unused or averse to ONE OF THE CANDELABRA IN THE SENATE CHAMBER There are six of this class, each weighing more than a ton strong coloring, but it is warranted by the room, private office, secretary's office, and examples of the great decorators of the Renais waiting room, is situated in the southern sance, who took into consideration the discount wing. Finished in oak, it is in the style of the that time would levy on any immediate garish English Renaissance, a product of grafting ness. Italian forms on the Gothic trunk. It repThe sides of both rooms are pierced with resents, in fact, the design and feeling of such lofty windows; in the cove over each window rooms as may be seen in fine old English manis a circular light filled with a beautiful design sions of the Jacobean or early seventeenth cenin stained glass by Mr. Van Ingen. The tury period, a blending of stateliness and furniture of these rooms was made from the domesticity. designs of the architect, who regarded it as an The conspicuous feature of the Governor's Integral part of the whole. office is the superb paneling of the walls, The Governor's suite, consisting of reception executed in American oak, "quartered”; that is to say, obtained by making a longitudinal Above these panels runs a frieze, divided incision as far as the centre, and then another by small pilasters into compartments, conat right angles to it, thus cutting a quarter taining contemporary portraits of governors, out of the circle of the trunk. The segment preceding as well as following the Revolution. is subsequently sawed into thin layers by cuts This group of paintings is surmounted by a parallel to the lines of the right angle. In vaulted cove that supports a flat ceiling, which this way every ring of the grain is shown in is decorated with a raised geometric design, cross-section. The paneling is divided into made up of a series of quatrefoils, the intervena series of compartments, each filled with two ing spaces carrying an interlace of curved lines upright bands of raised arabesques, carved that form an eight-pointed star. Like the out of the solid wood. These involve some cove, it is colored cream and buff, with gold five separate designs, composed of vases, cor enrichments. nucopias, grotesque birds and animals, scroll The reception room, 72 feet by 29, is lighted work, flowers, and leafage. The carver's tool by three tall French windows that open on a has been used with freedom even in repeating portico ennobled by stately monolithic columns. the forms, so that the repetitions and combi- Here also the key-note of the color scheme is nations of these designs produce no suggestion supplied by the dark-oak wainscot that lines of sameness. The eye passes around the the walls to a height of nine feet. But in this room with a sense of being continually sur case the paneling is without ornamentation, prised by some fresh evidence of invention. relying for effect upon the intrinsic richness of the wood. It is what is technically known in one hand and grasping a plough-handle with At each end of the room is a monumental THE SUPREME COURT Copyright 1905 by Violet Oakley One of a series of mural paintings by Miss Violet Oakley |