Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1900 [PAGE 281]

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3900.]

PEOOEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

261

this part of the work I received the sum of $2,500.00. After paying for labor, materials, and my own expenses of board and traveling from Syracuse to €hampaign and return there remained to me $693.00. In the spring of 1898, I went to Paris where I remained for six months, devoting all of my time to the preparation of the studies and cartoons from which these frescoes have been executed. As all of these figures and comnositions are original, it was necessary that they be prepared with the aid of life models, for which I paid the sum of $310.00. The expense for the materials for this preparatory study amounted to $36.50. The expense for the journey, board, and studio rent for six months spent in Paris was $525.00. 1 ought to explain that I was able to make this trip and execute the work in.Paris at a much less expense than if 1 had gone to Chicago or New York for the purpose, owing to the difference in studio rents and the wages of models. The preparation of the walls for the frescoes •cost $50.00 and the colors and materials for paintings, $56.75. I have been occupied for a period of more than two years upon the preparation and execution of these frescoes. One-fourth of that time has been devoted to other work, in order that I might support my family during that time. Of the remaining $1,000.00 due me, I have received $600.00. The following detailed statement will show what 1 have received and disbursed in the prosecution of the work since its beginning in August, 1897, and its completion in March, 1900:

Oost of decorating walls and ceilings Board and traveling expenses, four months. €ost of life models Materials for cartoons and life-studies....... Six months trip to Parish , •Canvassing walls for frescoes Materials and colors for frescoes , Total By cash By cash Total . " , $1,677 63 129 37 310 00 36 50 525 00 50 00 59 75 $2,785 25 $2,500 00 600 00 $3,100 00

It will be seen that I shall have received just $714.75 remuneration for eighteen months of solid work when the remaining $400.00 of the contract price has been paid. From a purely commercial point of view, it has been the most arduous and the least remunerative piece of work that I have ever executed, but I beg the President and the Board not to interpret this statement as a complaint; as I foresaw all of this when I first undertook the work, and was willing to undertake it for the opportunity which it afforded to show what I could do, and also for the privilege of impressing my own personality upon the art of my time in so important a work. I am not ashamed of my work, and if the President, the Board of Trustees, and the Architects, are satisfied with it, I shall feel amply repaid for all of the time, toil, and anxiety which it has <?ost me. Respectfully submitted to the President of the University of Illinois by

NEWTON A. W E L L S . URBANA, ILLINOIS, March 12, 1900.

This is to certify that Professor Newton A. Wells has completed the mural •decorations of the Library Building, including the great allegorical paintings in the rotunda, to our entire and ample satisfaction. He has produced a very pleasing and harmonious interior, in complete harmony with the style of architecture and construction employed for the building. The great oil paintings are original in composition and treatment, worthy to rank with similar works to be found in any of the libraries in the United States or in Europe.

RIOKER & W H I T E ,

Architects of Library

Building.