On one of its
walls is what appears to be an ancient mural, soft, flat, with that
faded, velvety coloring associated with age. It was recently painted by
Mathilde Festa-Piacentini, in the ancient manner to harmonize with the
court. It represents "The Return from the Crusade" of one noble
Pandolfo, and bears date and description in Latin. Quaint old-time
stiffness and weather-worn coloring combine with modern correctness and
fluency. The young artist is the wife of the architect of the pavilion
and has won a silver medal in the Italian section of Fine Arts. Below
this lunette stands a bronze copy of an antique David with the marble
head of Goliath. Other interesting murals appear in Italy's pavilion, by
Pierretto Banco and Bruno Ferrari, son of the sculptor, Ettore Ferrari.
The Riches of California
Tea Room, California Building
The tea-room of the Auxiliary to the Woman's Board, in the California
Building, was decorated by Florence Lundborg, a Californian whose work
has won consideration in this country and in France. In her large mural,
"The Riches of California," one of the most extensive ever painted by a
woman, and in the supplementary medallions she has expressed the
generous abundance of California's fruitage. Feeling a similarity
between copious California and Sicily, where she has lived and painted,
the artist chose for her text a line from Theocritus describing that
country: All breathes the scent of the opulent summer, the season of
fruits.
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