Earth, Air and Water. There are no conventional figures here
personifying the elements, but scenes from the life of intensely human
people, typifying the uses to which man has put the elements.

Fire. Beginning on the tower side of the court, at the northeast corner,
are the two panels representing Fire. The one on the north wall is
called "Primitive Fire." A group of figures surround a fire, some
nursing it and some holding out their hands to the heat, while a man at
the back brings fagots. Note the color accents in the robes of the three
standing figures.

"Industrial Fire," on the east wall, represents the bringing of fire
into the service of man. In some particulars this is among the finest of
the paintings, but the transverse cloud of smoke seems to break it
awkwardly.

Earth is represented in the two panels in the northwest corner. The one
on the north wall is entitled "The Fruit Pickers," typifying the wealth
of products that man obtains from the earth. This is perhaps the richest
of the panels, in the profusion of color and of alluring form.

The panel on the west wall is "The Dancing of the Grapes," a variation
of the theme of "The Fruit Pickers." It tells the story of the grape:
above are the pickers and the harvesters with baskets; at the right two
figures dancing to crush the juices from the grapes; and in the
foreground a group with the finished wine. The confusion of figures at
first is puzzling; but viewed simply as a spotting of bright colors
there is no finer panel among them all. It is better to stand well back
along the colonnade, and forgetting the subject, to delight in the
purely sensuous impression.