Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/110

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THE MUSEUM

tone enlivening the cold marble. A more attractive room is the small gallery in the Terme Museum in Rome, where the Fanciulla d'Anzio stands. This is hung with a blue cloth, according to classical precedent, which may be variously described according to the nomenclature in fashion, as Nattier blue or old blue. The warm, creamy tone of the marble is particularly beautiful against this cool background.

A similar color is the Gothic blue used with much success in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where, as a background for wooden sculpture, tapestries and paintings shown together, it has been much praised. It is difficult to find a color which will show off equally well a collection of miscellaneous objects. An atmospheric blue, such as that described as Gothic blue above, and the blue used in the Altman collection at the Metropolitan Museum in New York are very effective. There is also a gray-brown which was used in the Renaissance rooms at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts which has similar properties.

OTHER BACKGROUNDS

Another background which has been used successfully for paintings is wooden panelling, such as may be seen in the rooms containing the German and Italian primitives in the Evans Wing