MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON Decorations over the Main Stairway and Library John Singer Sargent HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION WITH PLAN 1925 HISTORY OF THE DECORATIONS The first decorations made by John Singer Sargent for the Museum were designed for the rotunda. The plans for these were matured in 1916 and the unveiling took place in October, 1921. A month later the Trustees approached Mr. Sargent with a view to having him continue the decorations, and it was planned to enrich with paintings and reliefs the vault over the main stairway leading up to the rotunda, the corridors from the rotunda to the library on either side of the staircase, and the space over the library door. The new decorations were conceived to harmonize with those already in the rotunda in one great scheme of color and form, visible for the most part from the head of the staircase. At the outset Mr. Sargent found it essential to make certain architectural changes. More space was procured for paintings by diminishing the area of the great skylight, so providing a place for the two long paintings (the “Apollo” and the “ Winds”’). The coffers below the skylight on both sides were removed to allow for the placing of the six reliefs coming directly below the ends of the two long paintings and of the skylight between them. In order to gain more light in the corridors on either side of the main stairway, the openings into the Classical and Renaissance courts were made larger, and the six large columns above the staircase on either side re-spaced. Two of these were moved across each corridor to accent the openings overlooking the Classical and Renaissance courts, and the remaining four columns were grouped in pairs to frame an equal opening over the staircase, giving an effect reminiscent of a Genoese palace. The original plan embraced all six reliefs but only nine of the present twelve paintings; the three paintings below the lunette were added later. Most of the studies and some of the canvases were done in Boston, but others, including the largest paintings and all the reliefs, were done in England. It is a matter for sincere congratulation that all these new mural decorations [2] LYNOD LSVO TVOISSVTO uf LUXS OL sapnoiay uoyyeyd (OL wag 78 ALX,6 OL $9820 Philosophy Unveiling Science 6 7"x3 8” of Truth 6 7"x3' 8” ae Reliets Winds 25 2"x10 9" Reliefs had been finished and the last of them shipped to Boston by Mr. Sargent before he died. The general coloring of the paintings is a golden ochre for the figures against a background of blue. The “Orestes,” however, is a light greenish gray against dull reds and orange. As with the rotunda, Mr. Sargent had a model made to scale before beginning work, and left behind scores of charcoal and other studies which he had used in his compositions. His methods were not those of a haphazard genius—his plans were carefully thought out, and explicit directions written down for those who should install the work. [3] Chiron 10°5”x 115" Diam. 10° RENAISSANCE COURT Atlas Perseus 10°5”x 115" s}josnypesseyy ‘U0ysog ‘s}Iy oul JO WNasny oy} Aq ‘gz6T ‘YstIAdoD) SHAIVNV(] syjesnyoesseyy ‘U0}s0g ‘S}IY OUT Jo VUNesny 9q} Aq ‘GgZEl] “WYst1AdoD AONGIOS " HLNUY, dO ONITIGAN() AHAOSOTIH The Danaides. Maidens carrying water jars are advancing from the left to empty them into a large urn with openings near the bottom through which the water escapes; on the right the procession is bearing off the empty vessels. The picture offers both a mythological and an allegorical interpretation. The name is derived from the story of the fifty daughters of Danaiis, who were given to the fifty sons of Egyptus in marriage. The mar- riage was displeasing to Danaiis, who gave each daughter a dag- ger, telling her to slay her husband on the night of the marriage, which command was obeyed by all save Hypermnestra, who fell in love with her husband and spared him. In punishment for the crime the Danaides were condemned everlastingly to pour water into a vessel with holes in it. The allegorical interpreta- tion may be given as follows: The figures represent the various sources* of wisdom from which the “fountain of knowledge” is supplied, the urn being so treated as to form a fountain from which the water flows down over a low platform of steps. The three panels below the lunette are Philosophy, the seated draped figure of a young man who rests his chin on his hand as he leans forward in dreamy thought; The Unveiling of Truth, a youth uncovering a dim figure filled with the mystery of unknown possibilities; and Scvence, an astronomer measuring the constel- lations of the heavens while a young woman records the results of his labors. The subjects of the group of four paintings are in keeping with their position over the entrance to the library. Their effect is one of tranquillity and emotionless generalization in contrast to the dramatic quality of the other decorations. Apollo in His Chariot with the Hours. Phoebus Apollo, the Greek sun-god, surrounded by speeding male figures representing the Hours, is driving his chariot close on the heels of Artemis (Diana) wearing a crescent moon over her forehead. Night, symbolized by the goddess with the moon in her hair, flees * cf, La Source by the French painter, J. A. D. Ingres (1780-1867). [ 6 | S}josnyoessey] “UOjsog ‘s}1y oul Jo unesny, sy} Aq ‘egel “WYystadAdoy SUNOP AHL HALIM LOTUVH,) SIFT NI OTTOdY before the Day, personified by the sun-god, so picturing the moment of dawn when night gives place to day. Personification of the great forces of nature as gods — the sun, moon, winds, ocean, and others — forms the very basis of Greek religion, and long after these had ceased to be wor- shipped as gods the idea of their individuality and the traditions of their deeds and attributes lingered to symbolize the forces which they personified. Especially in the arts of painting and sculpture do these picturesque traditions of an older civilization to which we are heirs still live. The conception of the sun-god driving a four-horse chariot appears in scenes painted on Greek vases as early as the fifth century B.C., but the addition of the Hours to the composition came much later and is used by Guido Reni (1575-1642) in a ceiling fresco in the Palazzo Rospigliosi at Rome, where the effect closely resembles this painting. The subject of the Sun in his chariot is a favorite one for ceil- ing decoration, and the fitness of its choice grows out of the thought of the early Egyptians, for whom a temple symbolized a miniature universe of which the ceiling was the sky. The nat- uralness of the conception still holds good, making the choice of subject for the two long paintings high overhead, one the Sun and the other the Winds, remarkably fitting. The Winds. Four male figures, signifying the winds from the four quarters of the sky, are flying against a background of sky and clouds. Boreas, the cold north wind, wears a dark, heavy robe and is represented plunging downward as though literally ‘coming down from the north.” He holds a conch shell in his hand and his aspect is more threatening than that of the others, the more so as his passage is marked with flashing streaks as of lightning. Zephyrus, the west wind, is a youth wholly nude, from whose outstretched hands flowers are wafted over the sky. His attitude is gentle, almost languid, as he drifts lightly along. Notus, the south wind, is also a youthful figure, with a mantle blown across his head, almost hiding the face. He holds an [8] S}Jesnyoessey] ‘UO}soOg ‘s}1y oul Jo UNosny 94} Aq “eZET ‘Vyst1AdoD SGNIM FHL inverted jar from which a great stream of water flows, referring to the south wind as a rain-bringer. The fourth figure, Eurus, the southeast or east wind, is lunging to one side, his body and aspect stronger and more blustering than either Notus or Zephyrus. He blows lustily on a conch shell, and the clouds which form a background design for the picture are thicker behind him, blacker around Boreas, and light and delicate near Zephyrus. All four figures are winged, though their motion appears to be from a force within them and characteristic of each, rather than a result of the use of their wings. An account * of the Tower of the Winds built at Athens in the first century B.C. shows how closely this painting follows the early conception of the characteristics of these powers of nature as rendered in sculpture on this ancient monument: “Boreas, the cold north wind, is a bearded man wearing a heavy sleeved robe and buskins, and blowing on a shell. . . . Notus, the showery south wind, is a youth lightly dressed and holding an inverted water jar... . Zephyrus, the warm west wind, is almost nude and has his mantle filled with flowers. All the figures are winged... .”’ Perseus on Pegasus slaying Medusa. Perseus was said to be the son of Zeus and Danaé and the grandson of Acrisius, King of Argos. Acrisius was warned that he would die by the hand of Perseus, so he shut Danaé and her child in a chest and threw them into the sea. They drifted to an island where they were rescued by Dictys, brother of the king. Dictys fell in love with Danaé, and when Perseus, now full-grown, interfered, he was sent away to fetch the head of Medusa, one of the Gorgons. These creatures were shaped like women, except for golden wings and bronze feet, with snakes instead of hair. 2 Perseus was equipped for the undertaking with winged san- dals, a bag in which to carry the head, and the Helmet of Hades which rendered him invisible, given him by the nymphs; a sickle given him by Hermes; and a mirror given him by Athena, for to look directly at Medusa was said to turn any one into stone. Thus * C. H. Weller, Athens and its Monuments. [ 10 | PrrsEus oN Pecasus SuAyYING MEDUSA Copyright, 1925, by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts [11] armed he found the Gorgons asleep, and looking in the mirror he cut off the head of Medusa. From Medusa sprang the wingéd horse, Pegasus, which was afterward tamed and trained by Athena. Perseus thrust the head in his bag and made off, pur- sued by the rest of the Gorgons. After various adventures with the head, among which he turned Atlas into a mountain, he gave it to Athena, who placed it on her breastplate (aegis) as can be seen in the statues of Athena still existing. In this picture the story is condensed: Perseus is mounted, on Pegasus holding the head of the Gorgon by its snaky locks, in the act of passing it to Athena. Atlas and the Hesperides. The kneeling Atlas bears on his shoulders a large globe symbolizing the sky, on which are visible signs of the zodiac; beyond Atlas the sun is rising over the ocean, and in the foreground sleeping maidens lie at his feet, two of whom are holding apples in their hands. These sleeping figures are the Hesperides (daughters of Atlas), the storied Islands of the West where grew the famous golden apples sought by Hercules in one of his twelve labors. In the legends Atlas led the Titans, a race of giants, in their fight with Zeus. When they were conquered Atlas was condemned to bear up the skies on his shoulders forever. Hercules came to Atlas when he was hunting for the Hesperides, whose where- abouts was lost even at the time of the Greeks, so old was the legend of the apples. Atlas offered to get the apples if in the meantime Hercules would take his place and hold up the heavens. This he did while Atlas secured the golden apples, but on return- ing Atlas refused to resume the load which he had so conveniently shifted to the shoulders of another. The crafty Hercules, how- ever, pretended to need a pad on his shoulders, and persuaded Atlas to hold the skies long enough for him to arrange one; no sooner had Atlas resumed the burden than Hercules made off with the golden apples in his hands, leaving ‘Atlas to call in vain. At another time Perseus, in his wanderings with the Gorgon’s head, came upon Atlas and showed him the head, which instantly [12] ATLAS AND THE HESPERIDES Copyright, 1925, by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts [13] turned Atlas into a mountain, famed among the ancients as so lofty that it was supposed the heavens rested on its top. This mountain range near the coast of Northern Africa is still called the Atlas Mountains. Of the signs of the zodiac to be seen in the painting the cen- tral one, Gemini, is an ‘air’ sign, and so serves to strengthen the symbolism of the globe which Atlas bears as signifying the skies. A group of stars in the constellation Taurus, to the left of Gemini, is named for the daughters of Atlas and Aethra. Chiron and Achilles. The centaur, Chiron, bears on his back the young Achilles, whom he is teaching to shoot with a bow and arrow. The centaur is seen outlined against the blue of the sky and masses of white clouds, his rearing body making a powerful sweep in the composition. An eagle, the emblem of Zeus, is poised overhead indicating the god’s interest in the youthful hero of the Trojan War, who is spoken of in Homer as “Achilles, dear to Zeus.”’ Chiron, the only one of the race of centaurs who is re- puted to be gentle and friendly to men, was well skilled in the arts of music, hunting, and war, and was supposed to have trained many of the Greek heroes of song and story. The young Achilles is especially associated with him, — “Swift as the wingéd wing Achilles, whom the goddess Thetis bore And gave to Chiron in his rigid lore To train his infant mind.” * The centaurs, beings half man, half horse, were said to frequent the wild mountainous country of Thrace, in the north. Warlike and brutal, except for Chiron, they were a favorite theme in Greek sculpture and painting, their use giving a splendid variety of form and action. The war of the Centaurs and Lapiths on the pedi- ment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia is the most important instance of their use in Greek art. Chiron bearing the young Achilles was apparently a favorite _ * Euripides’ “Tphigenia in Aulis.” [14] ea ey ao CHIRON AND ACHILLES Copyright, 1925, by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts theme with the artist, for he used it also as the subject of a relief in the rotunda decorations. Chiron, again, is shown as Sagittarius in the painting of Phaethon described later. Orestes. Many figures of Erinyes (avenging furies) with flam- ing torches and handfuls of snakes pursue the youthful Orestes, who flees madly away to the protecting arms of his sister, Iphigenia. The story illustrated tells how King Agamemnon came home from the Trojan war only to be killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Agamemnon’s son, Orestes, then a child, was saved from his mother by his sister, Electra, and brought up far from his own home. When he reached the age of twenty he was ordered by Apollo through the Delphic Oracle to return home and revenge his father. Accordingly Orestes slew Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, but after the matricide he was seized with madness and pursued by the Erinyes. According to one version he was at last relieved of the madness by his sister Iphi- genia, whom he found by accident officiating as the priestess of Artemis among the Taurians, when he was shipwrecked on the Taurian shores. The dramatic force of this story and its connection with the Trojan war gave it a lasting place in Greek literature. It forms the theme of plays by the three great tragedians of Athens, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. In one of these plays Orestes cries out to Apollo: “QO Phoebus, by thy oracles again Why hast thou led me to the toils? E’er since In vengeance for my father’s blood I slew My mother, ceaseless by the Furies driven, Vagrant, an outcast, many a bending course My feet have trod: to thee I came, of thee Inquired this whirling frenzy by what means, And how my labours I might end.”’ * The painting portrays the panic of the young Orestes, hardly more than a boy, and the horror of his sister to see him in * Euripides’ “‘Iphigenia in Tauris.” [ 16 | ORESTES Copyright, 1925, by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts [17] such a plight. The Furies are terrible in their avenging madness, the fearful imaginings of Orestes’ brain taken shape to pursue him. The orange glare of the torches and the greenish gray tinge of the flesh tones give a strange suggestion of an unbalanced mind, as a stage setting tends to further the effect of a play. | Phaethon. The hapless Phaethon is plunging headlong from the track of the sun through the heavens, his body wrapped in flames; two horses and a wheel of the chariot are falling with him. The solar track —a curved band with the signs of the zodiac, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Capricorn — extends from the top to the right side of the painting. Phaethon was the son of Helios (the Sun) and the ocean nymph, Clymene. He besought his father to let him drive the horses of the Sun across the skies for one day, and his father, though un- willing, finally yielded to his wish. The horses proved too strong for his inexperienced guidance and swerved from the track, drag- ging the chariot to destruction. So near the earth they came that the great heat scorched the land of Libya, leaving it an arid waste, burnt the skin of the Ethiopians black, and drove the Nile to conceal its sources. Zeus, seeing the catastrophe, hurled a thunder- bolt killing the adventurous Phaethon and averting a universal conflagration. The nymphs of the river Eridanus buried the body of the youth, and his sisters, the Heliades, mourned him till they turned into trees and their tears formed drops of amber. The prominence of Sagittarius in the composition is to be explained by its significance as a ‘fire’ sign (and so connected with the sun), ruled by the planet Jupiter (Zeus). The fact that Zeus had just hurled his thunderbolt at the unfortunate Phaethon is hinted by the presence of Sagittarius with an arrow ready to let fly from his bow. Hercules and the Hydra. Hercules (Herakles), the son of Alc- mene, a mortal, and Zeus, the father of the gods in Greek mythol- ogy, was the hero of many legends characterized by the use of his tremendous strength. The more important of the stories are grouped together and known as the “Twelve Labors of Hercules” [ 18 ] PHAETHON Copyright, 1925, by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts [ 19] which he performed in the service of King Eurystheus. One of these was his fight with the Lernean Hydra, a huge snake pos- sessed of nine heads, the central one being immortal. For each head struck off by Hercules, two grew to take its place, so that at the moment chosen here the Hydra shows thirteen venomous heads raised against the hero. In the story Hercules overcame the Hydra by burning the bleeding necks to prevent new heads growing, except for the immortal head which he buried beneath a huge rock. In the painting we see Hercules with his two distinctive attri- butes: the skin of the Nemean lion, which he killed in another of his twelve labors, hanging over his head and shoulders, and the heavy club, his favorite weapon, raised to strike the Hydra. The thick coils of the snake wind around Hercules and the many long necks twist and writhe, forming a composition like the roots. of a tree. Reliefs The series of six reliefs, on which four different compositions appear, occupies the space beneath the paintings and skylight of the vault over the stairway. They have no titles but repre- sent athletes in a race, and youths in graceful attitudes with garlands. They bear witness to the constant versatility of the artist. From oil portraits and landscapes, he turned with a sense of enjoyment to water colors, later to architecture, and in connection with architecture, sculptured reliefs. In those of the rotunda together with the paintings there, he shows a classic reserve, but in the later ones over the staircase there is a freer decorative quality. Perhaps the dramatic force which is evident in the latter is a measure of the abandon with which he let him- self go again. It is certainly interesting that he should display such energy even up to the end of his career. In all the decoration of the rotunda and the staircase, cover- ing a period of many years, Mr. Thomas A. Fox was at Mr. Sargent’s right hand giving him loyal and devoted help. [ 20 | HERCULES AND THE HyprRa Copyright, 1925, by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts [ 21 | s}jesnyowsseyy ‘UOsog ‘s}1y oul Jo UINasN]y If} Aq ‘Geol ‘yy sttsAdoy ell s}jesnyoessey ‘U0ysog “s}1y oT Jo WinesnyAy 9y4 Aq ‘Ge6L ‘yysisAdoy Ill ail a rae Copyright, 1925, by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts a “e + . / i - ate : re or + ea | Dw - > o owe 7 ee & 5 ~*~ 7 = ~ ~* ‘ 2 a 7 Lad