The sculpture in this gallery has no relation to the historical character of the room, but fits well into the atmosphere.  Adolph A. Weinman’s admirable “Descending Night” is so familiar to all Exposition visitors, in its adaptation in a fine fountain in the Court of the Universe, that no more reference need be made to it.  Here in bronze on a small scale, it is even more refined.  Mrs. Saint Gaudens’ charming family group, in burnt clay, is not so well in harmony with this gallery of older work, but infinitely more appealing than J. Q. A. Ward’s “Hunter” or Cyrus Dallin’s “Indian”.  Both of these groups lack suggestive quality.  They are carried too far.  Edward Kemeys’ “Buffaloes” lacks a sense of balance.  The defeated buffalo, pushed over the cliff, takes the interest of the observer outside of the center of the composition, and a lack of balance is noticeable in this otherwise well modelled group.

Gallery 91.

In this room one is carried farther back into the earlier phases of painting by a Luini of pronounced decorative quality.  The picture is probably a part of a larger scheme, but it is well composed into the frame which holds it.  Besides, it is of interest as the only piece of old mural painting included in the exhibition.  The ground on which the angel is painted is a piece of the plaster surface of the original wall of which this fragment was a part.  The method of producing these fresco paintings (al fresco calco) necessitated the employment of a practical plasterer besides the painter.  The painting was first drawn carefully on paper and then transferred in its outlines upon freshly prepared plaster, just put upon the wall.  Having no other means of making the paint adhere to the surface, the painter had to rely upon the chemical reaction of the plaster, which would eventually unify the paint with itself.  It was a very tedious process, which nowadays has been superseded by the method of painting on canvas, which after completion in the studio is fastened to the wall.  Above the Luini hangs a very Byzantine looking Timoteo Viti “Madonna” of interesting colour and good design, but with a Christ child of very doubtful anatomy, and also two old sixteenth century Dutch pictures — a Jan Steen and a Teniers.  I have my doubts as to the authenticity of the last two pictures.  They are both interesting as disclosing the fondness of the Dutch painters of the sixteenth century for over-naturalistic subjects.

On wall B two pictures, without author or title, appeal to one’s imagination.  They are both well painted and rich in colour.  A certain big decorative quality puts them far above their neighbor — a Dutch canvas of bad composition with no redeeming features other than historical interest.  Jacopo da Ponte’s big “Lazarus” has a certain noble dignity.  Though it is rather black in shadows, it is not devoid of colour feeling.  On either side are two old Spanish portraits of children of royalty.  They impress by their very fine decorative note, charmingly enhanced by the wonderful frames.  Another Ribera, as forceful as the one mentioned before, easily stands out among the many pictures in this gallery, most of which are only of historical interest.  The whole aspect of this little gallery is one of extreme remoteness from modern thought and idea, but as an object lesson of certain older periods it is invaluable.