The Court of the Four SeasonsAs we entered the Court of the Four Seasons the architect said: "If Iwere to send a student of architecture to this Exposition, I should advise him to spend most of his time here.Of all the courts, it expresses for me the best architectural traditions.Henry Bacon frankly took Hadrian's Villa for his model, and he succeeded in keeping every feature classic.That half dome is an excellent example of a style cultivated by the Romans.The four niches with the groups of the seasons, by Piccirilli, screened behind the double columns, come from a detail in the baths of Caracalla.The Romans liked to glimpse scenes or statuary through columns.Guerin has applied a rich coloring, his favorite pink, and McLaren has added a poetic touch by letting garlands of the African dew plant, that he made his hedge of, flow over from the top.See how Bacon has used the bull's head between the flowers in the ornamentation, one of the most popular of the Renaissance motives.And he has introduced an original detail by letting ears of corn hang from the top of the columns.Those bulls up there, with the two figures, carry the mind back to the days when the Romans made a sacrifice of the sacred bull in the harvest festivals.This Thanksgiving of theirs they called 'The Feast of the Sacrifice.' "Crowning the half dome sat the lovely figure of Nature, laden with fruits, by Albert Jaegers.On the columns at either side stood two other figures by Jaegers, "Rain," holding out a shell to catch the drops, and "Sunshine," with a palm branch close to her eyes.At each base the figures of the harvesters carried out the agricultural idea with elemental simplicity in friezes that recalled the friezes on the Parthenon.Here, on each side of the half-dome, we have a good example of the composite column, a combination of the Corinthian and the Ionic, with the Ionic scrolls and the acanthus underneath, and with little human figures between the two.
What we liked best about this court was its feeling of intimacy.One could find refreshment here and rest.Much was due to the graceful planting by John McLaren.His masses of deep green around the emerald pool in the center were particularly successful.He had used many kinds of trees, including the olive, the acacia, the eucalyptus, the cypress, and the English laurel.
