GoKawiilNYPL and Morgan Library interiors trace back to painter James Wall Finn
Decorative painter James Wall Finn, active roughly 1866-1913, created the murals and ornamental ceiling work found in several prominent Manhattan interiors, including the Rose Main Reading Room at the New York Public Library, the Lyceum Theatre, Villa Albertine and the Morgan Library. He worked alongside leading Gilded Age architecture firms such as McKim, Mead & White and Carrère & Hastings, and for patrons including John Jacob Astor IV, William Payne Whitney and JP Morgan. A 1910 New York Architect magazine profile praised his decorative work for resembling that of top European masters.