Nieuw Amsterdam : First Class Dining Room. Artwork

First Class Dining Room. Artwork: The room is dominated by the work of Joep Nicolas. Arcadian scenes adorn the huge burned glass panels just within the entrance, and eight smaller ones with fishing, hunting, agriculture and kindred themes are placed around the sides. This “vermurial� work is the invention of the artist. It has the quality of a careful charcoal sketch, yet it is entirely permanent, the glass being extremely durable. The various effects are secured by a secret annealing process, after the designs have been traced with metal oxides. Five years of experimentation preceded the production of these works, which are probably the first examples to be seen in America, and certainly the first ever to be used in the decoration of a ship. On the walls on both sides of the room, and decorated by the same artist, is a series of twenty rose mirrors. The designs~ silhouettes painted on the reverse side of the glass~ are very free in execution and composition.