University of Virginia Library

THE FINE ART MUSEUM.

The most valuable exhibit of all, considered from a monetary point of view, is undoubtedly to be found in the building devoted to the fine arts. Although intended for a temporary structure, it is necessarily fireproof. The main walls are of solid brick, covered with highly ornamented stucco work, whose general tone or color is light gray stone, and the roof, floors and galleries are of iron, the light being supplied by skylights in iron frames. The building is farthest removed from the general entrance to the grounds, but enjoys a most important site, for about it to the northward are grouped the various State Buildings. Its main entrances are to the north and south, the latter with a commanding water view across a terrace, which descends to the boat landing on the lagoon. The north front faces a wide lawn, just beyond which are the State Buildings.

The Art Museum is a pure type of refined, classic architecture. Its shape is oblong, intersected from the four sides by a great nave and transept, one hundred feet wide and seventy feet high, with a dome sixty feet in diameter in the center. This dome, one hundred and twenty-five feet in height, will be surmounted by, a collossal statue. The exhibit of sculpture is displayed upon the main floor of both nave and transept, and on either side are galleries twenty feet wide and twenty-four feet above the floor, which afford ample areas for the display of paintings and relief sculpture. There are smaller rooms for the private collections and the exhibits of the various art schools. On either side of the main building, and connected therewith by handsome corridors, are large annexes, which are also filled with various art exhibits. Four great portals give entrance to the Art Building. These are richly ornamented with architectural sculpture, and the freize of the exterior walls and the pediments of the principal entrance are replete with sculpture and bas-relief portraits of the masters of ancient art. Grouped about in the immediate neighborhood are ornamental groups of statuary. The finest examples of ancient and modern art are here displayed. Italian and Spanish old masters from the Vatican and Florentine collections, and many of the most famous paintings and statues of the day are some of the interior treasures.