Part 8 (2/2)

In its pervading dignity, in the strength of the columns, in the rich beauty of the capitals and in the chaste refinement of the cornice, the colonnade is essentially Greek.

Palace of Fine Arts In the Peristyle Walk

Between the Palace of Fine Arts itself and its bordering colonnade of ma.s.sive Corinthian columns runs a broad promenade which, while binding the two together, receives a sense of freedom and serenity from the open sky above.

The wall of the gallery is interrupted only by the simple entrances at intervals. It is low and intimate in comparison with the great proportions of the other exhibit palaces and its height is further broken by a terrace midway, set with growing plants and shrubs. The whole effect desired by the architect is of an ancient ruin, overgrown through the centuries with vegetation. Along the edge of the roof runs a latticed Pompeiian pergola, hung with trailing vines, and the wall of the building is colored a deep pompeiian red.

The immense flower urns, banded with cla.s.sic figures in deep relief, bearing heavy swinging garlands, are by Ulric H. Ellerhusen. Alternating with the ma.s.sed green of shrubs and plants against the wall are niches holding sculptured groups. The Roman urns which crown the square pillars marking the doors and which, in varying size, are repeated here and there about the building, are by William G. Merchant.

Palace of Fine Arts The Rotunda from the Peristyle

From any point in the peristyle of the Palace of Fine Arts and under any atmospheric conditions, either by day or by night; the vistas are peculiarly satisfying and charming. About the columns of the stately colonnade are blooming plants in simple, natural groups. And at intervals between the columns under the rotunda or along either end of the laguna, the outdoor gallery of sculpture finds a sympathetic background and setting.

The great dome of the rotunda which crowns so many of the vistas, is stained a velvety burnt orange, with a turquoise blue-green border.

Beneath, are eight panels in low relief by Bruno L. Zimm, symbolizing Greek culture and its desire for poetic and artistic expression, conceived in a deeply cla.s.sic vein and executed with spirit and grace.

Below the panels is an attic of pale-green marble.

Flanking each pier of the rotunda are two Corinthian columns in Sienna marble, within the arches are corresponding Corinthian pilasters, and within the dome against each pier is another ma.s.sive Corinthian column in marble, each one crowned with the serene and n.o.ble ”Priestess of Culture” by Herbert Adams of New York.

Palace of Fine Arts The Peristyle Walk by Night

Of all the wonderful night effects of the Exposition grounds none are so full of haunting beauty as the vistas afforded by the Palace of Fine Arts and its surroundings. By the indirect system of illumination, an effect as of strong moonlight is produced and from concealed sources, under cornices or behind columns, a soft reflected radiance pervades peristyle and rotunda. The trees, shrubs and columns cast long, intense shadows. Through the columns may be seen the long line of the Roman wall across the laguna, its great, half-domes suffused with a mellow, golden light and in the everchanging waters between, it gleams again.

From the other side of the laguna, the rotunda and the long crescent of the colonnade are seen reflected as in a mirror, and when flooded with the white radiance of the searchlights, their majestic beauty is indescribable.

Palace of Fine Arts A Fountain in the Laguna

Beautiful as the Palace of Fine Arts is from any viewpoint, its simplicity and n.o.ble strength are at their best when seen with a foreground of trees and water. The landscape, in its simple naturalness, is in feeling an intimate part of the building itself and so perfectly do they blend that they seem to have grown together through quiet, serene centuries.

Between the columns and along the wall of the building are blooming plants and shrubs, groups of Monterey cypress and eucalyptus trees. The sh.o.r.es of the laguna are banked with shrubs, loosely ma.s.sed, and groups of evergreens and weeping willows bend over the lake. Outlining its irregular border, broken by small promontories and inlets, thousands of blooming plants creep down to the water's edge and venture out into its placid depths--periwinkles, primroses, daffodils, heliotrope, pampas gra.s.s, white and yellow callas, Spanish and j.a.panese iris and myriads of others whose names and gay, nodding blossoms are more or less familiar.

Fountains play in the edge of the lake, the charming spirited group here ill.u.s.trated being ”Wind and Spray” by Anna Coleman Ladd.

Palace of Fine Arts A Picturesque Garden Fountain

The graceful garden fountain shown is the work of Anna Coleman Ladd. It is located toward the north end of the building near the entrance to the peristyle. Of the general effect of the Palace of Fine Arts and of its deeper meaning, the architect, Bernard R. Maybeck, says:

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