Studio: international art (51.1911)

Decorative Paintings by Prof. Carl Marr

scape, and the rich “ tapestry ” of the flowers and
moving figures that occupies the lower portion of
the canvas.

The slender vertical groups of trees, set at
intervals, serve admirably the purpose of uniting
the wainscot with the cove of the ceiling, and, as
the figures floating in the sky are partially draped in
garments of greyish-white, the transition in colour
from the rich brown of the lower woodwork to the
pale lemon of the ceiling is accomplished without
harshness.

Daylight admitted to the room comes from one
side only. In the wall opposite to the windows
are two great doors dividing that wall into three
panels, of which the centre one is much larger
than the other two. An arched opening in one
end-wall gives access to other rooms, and at the
opposite end are the musicians’ gallery and a
smaller door.

The narrative woven into the decoration begins
in the left-hand panel of the wall opposite the
windows. Here we see The Coming of the Child.
A mysterious figure veiled in grey emerges from a
grove of dense flowering bushes, bearing the little
one aloft in her hands. Advancing to greet the
new-comer is the family, consisting of the young
father and mother and four elder children, the
mother kneeling, with hands outstretched to re-
ceive her new charge.

The large panel between the great doors shows
The Pleasures of Youth—the dance and courtship.
On the opposite wall the call of the sterner duties
of life makes the man a mail-clad soldier, who
marches sturdily forth, accompanied by the prayers
of kneeling women, clad in the costumes of
religious orders, and preceded by symbolic figures
which suggest to the beholder Joy and Sorrow.
The wife, in a richly embroidered robe of deep
greyish-blues and pale yellowish-greys, follows the
warrior with her wistful gaze, and winged and
floating figures bear an opalescent globe before
him. To the extreme right a group of similar
figures seems to be observing and recording the
varying fortunes of the warrior, and how he bears
himself in the changing vicissitudes of life.

The last scene of all is beautifully rendered in
the deep, quiet, golden tints of autumn. A happy
elderly pair, clad in the costume of the late
eighteenth century, hasten homeward along flower-
bedecked paths, preceded by their lengthening
shadows cast by the evening light.

The representation of death in any of its
usual forms is avoided in these decorative
compositions. The idea of re-incarnation is
38

symbolised by the passing and the coming of the
flowers. This portion of the allegory is portrayed
upon the end-wall, which is pierced by the large
elliptical arch. Over the arch is the family coat-
of-arms, and above this the escutcheon finds an
appropriate place, as symbolising the permanence of
the family, while one generation succeeds another.

Although the symbolism mildly engages the
attention, the chief effect of the decoration is that
of a grand procession of form and colour, leading
the eye easily and rhythmically from dark to light,
from sober to bright, from grave to gay. At no
point in the entire scheme does one feel that
Professor Marr has exhausted his resources or
reached the limits of his sense of decoration or
his powers of invention. Holmes Smith.

“flora”: decorative painting in the ban-
quet-hall AT SCHLOSS STEIN

BY PROF. CARL MARR