244 



DECORATIVE ART IN AMERICA. 



the decorative color. These are in mosaics of 

 glass jewels imbedded in the plaster. The 

 decorative effect is of a bluish tone, deepen- 

 ing, fading, and always changing, which rests 

 above the design, pierced by myriad rays of 

 light thrown off by the facets of the jewels. 

 The value of the decoration is even greater by 

 night, as it then receives the greater strength 

 of the artificial light. Such mosaic panels have 

 been introduced in the decoration of the White 

 House at Washington, and in the Union League 

 Club Building of New York city. But work 

 in mosaic is not confined to jeweled glass. 

 Very interesting effects are produced by flat 

 mosaics of pearl - toned and iridescent glass. 

 In the gallery of the Presbyterian Church in 

 New York, more familiarly known as the 

 Brick Church, is found an ornament modeled 

 in composition and inlaid with opalescent glass, 

 which, when seen from below, resembles carv- 

 ing in ivory inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The 

 door-frames leading into the pulpit consist of 

 inlays of bronze-toned mosaics, which prove 

 so successful that they have been introduced in- 

 to private houses. Cornices and center-pieces 

 of opalescent and shell-tinted mosaics are now 

 making their way, as are also panels to be in- 

 serted in furniture. 



Inlaid Work. Inlays of other kinds, and in 

 more costly materials, are found in a few 

 houses. The rapid increase of wealth, and its 

 accumulation in the hands of few persons, 

 have at least been serviceable to decorative art, 

 since it has allowed for what we must be per- 

 mitted to call experiments in the first instance, 

 and for the use of material such as only great 

 wealth can command. The residence, known 

 as the Villard house, constitutes one wing of a 

 group of houses built after the model of an 

 Italian palace. The decoration of the interior, 

 which is of the most luxurious description, 

 corresponds with the date and period of the 

 architecture. The walls of the main hall are 

 paneled throughout in Siena marble. The 

 ceiling is groined and enriched with the most 

 delicate ornamentation, Renaissance in charac- 

 ter, in marble inlays. The drawing-room suite 

 continues the same style of ornamentation in 

 mahogany inlaid with white mahogany and 

 mother-of-pearl. The mechanical perfection 

 of this work, all done in this country, deserves 

 mention as well as its artistic merit. 



The inlays in the house of Cornelius Van- 

 derbilt reproduce in an elaborate manner dec- 

 orative work of the fifteenth century, and by 

 methods and processes that have arisen directly 

 out of the exigencies of the effect to be pro- 

 duced. The ceiling of the dining-room is cof- 

 fered and divided into panels, some of which 

 are filled with glass, since the room serves also 

 as a picture-gallery. The beams are oak, inlaid 

 with a double Greek frot of mother-of-pearl. 

 The panels are of mahogany, carved in relief 

 and inlaid and overlaid with pearl, bronze, mar- 

 bles, and corals. The object of this decoration 

 is to secure certain color-effects for the designs, 



and the processes by which these are arrived 

 at are novel and interesting. There are four 

 figure -panels Ceres, Bacchus, Pomona, and 

 Actason. These figures were modeled by Au- 

 gustus St. Gaudens for John La Farge. The 

 Bacchus is the figure of a youth, with slight 

 drapery ; in one hand he holds a beaker aloft, 

 the other rests on a sturdy vine, the foliage of 

 which crowns him and falls on the other Bide. 

 The flesh - tints are rendered in Siena marble 

 overlaying the wood. The beaker is in moth- 

 er-of-pearl, and the vine in dull-green bronze, 

 one of the many alloys used in the decora- 

 tion that were experiments' for the special end 

 in view. In the Pomona, and in several of 

 the ornamental panels, these alloys play an even 

 more important part. 



The Pomona is a graceful conception, beau- 

 tiful both in line and color. The flesh-tones, 

 as of all the figures, are in Siena marble, and 

 the drapery of white mahogany and holly, the 

 slight differentiation of tint and texture prov- 

 ing very successful. The figure bends back a 

 branch hung with golden fruit, which she pre- 

 pares to cut with a gleaming knife of pearl. 

 None of the panels exceed this in color, in 

 which the green serpentine of the foliage and 

 the fruit of burnished bronze make fine har- 

 mony with the pearl, marble, and w r oods. In 

 the ornamental panels iridescent alloys mingle 

 with ivory, coral, and marbles, and at each 

 end of the room the head of Apollo in golden 

 repousse bronze makes a conspicuous ornament. 

 These panels are each surrounded by a wreath 

 of hammered bronze, which leads the color up 

 to the egg-and -tongue molding of old oak that 

 forms the panels. The luxuriance of the ma- 

 terials must not divert the mind from the pri- 

 mary artistic intention, the color -effects to 

 which these simply contribute, and which in 

 the case of the metallic alloys are the results 

 of much consideration. But the ultimate gain 

 to decorative art is of wider and more perma- 

 nent character, since the formulas serve as 

 memoranda for the future. 



Sculpture. But little decoration has been done 

 in pure sculpture, owing partly to the expense 

 of such work, and to the few sculptors who 

 can produce it. That done, however, has been 

 of high character. In the Villard house the 

 panels above the mantel of the main hall and 

 dining-room are carved in relief. That of the 

 main hall is the figure of " Peace," a woman, 

 life-size, seated with two children by her knee, 

 cut in low relief in Siena marble. In the din- 

 ing-room the sculpture makes the frieze of the 

 panels of Verona marble that line the end of 

 the room. This arrangement makes it the 

 most magnificent piece of decorative sculpt- 

 ure yet produced. The three figures "Joy," 

 "Moderation," and "Hospitality" are, in fact, 

 statues, since they are thrown into such high 

 relief. The figures are full length, but seated, 

 each clasping the knees and holding ribbons 

 that connect them. The effect from below is 

 that of prominent medallions. The work is by 



