The ornaments and attributes in relief, heavily gilded, give unexampled richness to this part of the decoration. Below lunette and arch is the frieze, representing the Old Testament prophets; those on the extreme left are grouped in attitudes of despair, while the corresponding group at the right hails the light with outstretched hands. All the painter's best qualities of technical method, color, and distinction seem reunited here in this band of heroic figures, which are exceptionally strong in their simplicity. Moses alone, in the central place holding the tablets of the law, stands out from the wall in high relief adorned with gold, as if to bind together the component parts of the design. Though complete in itself, this is really but a fragment of Sargent's scheme, which includes a similar combination of mediaeval doctrines already ordered for the southern recess, and the decoration of the intervening sides. The long eastern wall, devoted to a single scene from the New Testament—that light toward which the hopeful prophets turn—will thus form the central, fundamental point of the whole composition, expressing the faith that abides, that subdues the old and controls the new. The artistic importance of all this mural decoration deserves much more than the passing word given to it here. The work of Sargent and Abbey is of a very high order, ranking with the best that modern Europe has produced. Whatever may be the final judgment passed upon it generations hence, the painters have certainly approached their task in the reverent spirit of the old masters, which seems to shine through the result of studious years.
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