decorations above the conventional, with the exception of the "Autumn"
and the two larger panels in the half dome.

All of the seven decorations belonging to the set of eight smaller ones
are rather academic in their monotony of symmetrical compositions, not
sufficiently relieved by variety of detail. These decorations have to
excess what Reid's decorations are lacking in, namely, repose. Their
coloring is quiet and in thorough harmony with the architecture.

Bancroft's two more importantly placed decorations are, fortunately, his
best efforts. "Art Crowned by Time" and "Man Receiving Instruction in
the Laws of Nature" are very effective in their stateliness and
thoroughly decorative quality. They show the artist's allegiance to the
great decorations of the Renaissance in many quaint ways of filling out
the background spaces by puttos holding tablets, simple bits of
architecture, and conventionalized trees. His figure of "Art" is unique
among his figures in the decorative pattern used on the mantle which
falls gracefully from her shoulders. All the other Bancroft decorations
are devoid of this use of surface patterns, which are so helpful and
interesting in decorative arrangement.

It is only a few steps from the Court of the Four Seasons into the Court
of Palms. In entering through the orchestral niche one passes directly
underneath the lunette which holds the very decorative canvas by Arthur
Mathews, the acknowledged leader in the art of California. It must be
said that it does not seem right, in the light of what has been
contributed by men from elsewhere, that Mathews' superb talent should
have been employed only in one panel. His "Victorious Spirit," a rich
and noble composition, has certain enduring qualities which are not to
be found in a single one of any of the others. Simply taken as a