Beauty and the Beast Fountain Detail, Court of Flowers The Fountain of Beauty and the Beast in the Court of Flowers accentuates the feeling of gentle fancy and the spirit of the fairytale that are the mood of this and its companion court. It is by Edgar Walter, a distinguished San Franciscan; he has given us a delightful, playful and tender rendition of the old tale that has held the imagination of the world since it first appeared in Straparola's "Piacevoli Notti" in 1550. Since it was popularized by Madame le Prince de Beaumont in 1757, the story has been translated into every language. The fountain shows, with great restraint and refinement of handling, one of Beauty's ministrations to the sick monster shortly before his transformation. It is subject to the symbolism that may be read into the story itself; but the note of fairy magic is the essential theme of the fountain. Quaint fairy pipers, the unseen musicians of the Monster's Palace, stand about the pedestal. The lower basin bears a frieze of charmed or enchanted beasts, very lightly handled and not insistent. Their idea is continued in the court by the gryphon decorations and Albert Laessle's wreath-bearing Friendly Lions, at the entrances to the palaces. Caryatid Court of Palms The Court of Palms is restful, meditative, a place where the feeling of magical allure takes a deeper, more subjective character. It might well be called the Court of Pools, for two, quiet pools, one circular, one oblong except for its concave side to hold the other, fill the floor of its sunken garden and reflect its pensive as well as its physical charms. The Caryatids repeated throughout this court are the joint work of John Bateman and A. Stirling Calder. They inject into the court its fairy spirit without disturbing its repose. They are Puckish, bat-winged, goblin-horned fairy creatures of an eerie beauty, elfin, roguish and quaint. Their quality is enhanced by the beautiful color that has been applied to them, to the garlanded panels between them, to the cartouches over the archways and, indeed, to all the decorations on the walls and columns of this court. This richness and depth of color leads the eye to the three splendid mural lunettes in the arches. These are Childe Hassam's "Fruit and Flowers" and Charles Holloway's "Pursuit of Pleasure," at the entrances to the palaces, and Arthur Mathews' "Victory of Culture Over Force" in the portal that leads to the Court of the Four Seasons and frames a vista of the bay. The Harvest Court of the Four Seasons