Ballin described his murals in a pamphlet published in 1913:
"The circle in the center [of the ceiling], nine feet in diameter, represents Wisconsin surrounded by her attributes. A woman in yellow and green (holding a basket), horticulture and agriculture. A man in the foreground represents the mining and forest industries; a semi-nude woman, commerce by the sea (leaning on a bale and holding a lactometer); a prophet, commerce by water (with sextant and trident). Above the central figure hangs the American flag, which falls behind the stone seat. The words in gold are taken from the Declaration of Independence. The child holding an oak branch represents the young state. In the open book, in the right hand of the central figure, are the words just, charity, invention, religion, pioneering and art - subjects depicted in the side T's and L's." Ballin was referring to the T and L shaped paintings that surround the central tondo, six paintings which similarly used allegorical female figures to represent the qualities of Wisconsin that Ballin thought crucial to the state's success.

Both the murals' commissioners and art critics found Ballin's allegorical paintings on the ceiling to be the most pleasing in the room. One wrote to Ballin that "the universal opinion" among his fellow commissioners was that "your work on the ceiling is unsurpassed." Ada Rainey, who reviewed the murals for The International Studio magazine, wrote that in the paintings on the ceiling in particular, "there is a keen sense of beauty in these lovely decorations of Mr. Ballin - beauty of design, of color, and in handling of the pigments. Indeed the sense of beauty is one of Mr. Ballin's most distinguishing characteristics, and his exquisite color is as remarkable as it is unusual. The true colorist is born and not made. Color is almost entirely a matter of feeling. Training can add much to accentuate or develop it, but the sensitive feeling for color is a natural endowment. This Mr. Ballin possesses and this is perhaps the most striking characteristic in these mural decorations. For this reason reproductions imperfectly convey the impression of the whole."

Image courtesy of the Wisconsin State Historical Society.

Ballin's quotation appears in his pamphlet, "Mural Paintings in the Executive Chamber, State Capitol Building Madison, Wisconsin," (New York: 1913).

Text of the commissioner's letter appears in “Historic Structure Report” issued by the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Administration, Division of Facilities Development in 2004.

Rainey's quotation in The International Studio vol. 51, no. 204 (Feb., 1914)