Morgan Library Rotunda

by Jessica Jenney

Title

Morgan Library Rotunda

Artist

Jessica Jenney

Medium

Photograph - Photography/digital Art

Description

In 1902 American financier Pierpont Morgan chose architect Charles Follen McKim of the prominent firm McKim, Mead and White to design a library to house his growing collection of rare books and manuscripts. Adjacent to Morgan's home, which stood on the corner of Madison Avenue and 36th Street, McKim created a majestic structure in a classical style based upon villas of the Italian Renaissance. The exterior is constructed of Tennessee pink marble, the blocks set with such precision that virtually no mortar was used. A simple recessed portico is flanked by a pair of stone lionesses. Completed in 1906, Mr. Morgan's Library as it was called for many years is the historic heart of today's Morgan Library & Museum.

The marble surfaces and mosaic panels that are signature features of the McKim Rotunda were cleaned. New lighting simulates the natural light that originally came through the oculus and enhances the Mowbray-decorated apse, ceiling, and lunettes that depict figures from classical antiquity and the great literary epochs of the past.

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January 6th, 2017

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