ERECTED UNDER THE ACTS OF CONGRESS OF APRIL 15 1886 OCTOBER 2 1888 AND MARCH 2 1889 BY BRIG. GEN. THOS. LINCOLN CASEY CHIEF OF ENGINEERS U. S. A. BERNARD R. GREEN SUPT. AND ENGINEER JOHN L. SMITHMEYER ARCHITECT PAUL J. PELZ ARCHITECT EDWARD PEARCE CASEY ARCHITECT =Mr. Warner’s Spandrel Figures.=--Mr. Warner’s figures in the spandrels of this commemorative arch are life-size, and are entitled _The Students_. Both figures--one in either spandrel--are represented in an easy, but dignified and sculptural attitude, leaning on one arm against the curve of the arch. That to the left is of a young man seeking to acquire from books a knowledge of the experience of the past. That to the right is an old man with flowing beard, absorbed in meditation. He is no longer concerned so much with books as with observation of life and with original reflection and thought. The sculptor has thus naturally indicated the development of a scholar’s mind, from youth to old age. As an ornament of the approach to the Reading Room, the appropriateness of the figures is obvious. [Illustration: AMERICA AND AFRICA.--BY PHILIP MARTINY.] Within the arch, the pier on either side is decorated with a bit of relief work, consisting of the seal of the United States flanked by sea-horses, by Mr. Philip Martiny. It is Mr. Martiny’s sculpture, also, which ornaments the staircase, the coved ceiling, and the lower spandrels of the Staircase Hall. With the exception of Mr. Warner’s figures, just described, and of a series of cartouches and corner eagles which occupy the spandrels of the second-story arcade--the work of Mr. Weinert--Mr. Martiny has this central hall to himself, so far as the sculpture is concerned. =Mr. Martiny’s Staircase Figures.=--The spandrels in the first story are unusually delicate and pretty. The design comprises wreaths of roses and oak and laurel leaves, with oak or palm for a background. It is in the staircases, however, that Mr. Martiny’s work is most varied and elaborate. On the piers between which they descend into the hall, he has sculptured a striking female head of the classic type, with a garland below and a kind of foliated arabesque on either side. Upon the newel post which terminates the railing of each staircase is placed a bronze female figure upholding a torch for electric lights. The two figures are somewhat taller than life, measuring six and a half feet, or eight feet to the top of the torch, and ten feet including the rounded bronze base on which they stand. Each has a laurel wreath about her head, and is clad in classic drapery. [Illustration: THE COMMEMORATIVE ARCH.]