wreath-bearing Friendly Lions, at the entrances to the palaces.



Caryatid
Court of Palms



The Court of Palms is restful, meditative, a place where the feeling of
magical allure takes a deeper, more subjective character. It might well
be called the Court of Pools, for two, quiet pools, one circular, one
oblong except for its concave side to hold the other, fill the floor of
its sunken garden and reflect its pensive as well as its physical
charms. The Caryatids repeated throughout this court are the joint work
of John Bateman and A. Stirling Calder. They inject into the court its
fairy spirit without disturbing its repose. They are Puckish,
bat-winged, goblin-horned fairy creatures of an eerie beauty, elfin,
roguish and quaint. Their quality is enhanced by the beautiful color
that has been applied to them, to the garlanded panels between them, to
the cartouches over the archways and, indeed, to all the decorations on
the walls and columns of this court. This richness and depth of color
leads the eye to the three splendid mural lunettes in the arches. These
are Childe Hassam's "Fruit and Flowers" and Charles Holloway's "Pursuit
of Pleasure," at the entrances to the palaces, and Arthur Mathews'
"Victory of Culture Over Force" in the portal that leads to the Court of
the Four Seasons and frames a vista of the bay.