In each of the four pendentives is a circular painting by Edward J. Holslag complementing the theme of the ceiling painting. The pendatives, triangular curved surfaces between two arches and beneath a dome, are decorated with rosettes and fluttering ribbons, garlands of fruit, moldings of elongated beads and disks (bead-and-reel), egg-and-dart moldings, and sprays of bay leaves and bayberries surrounding the circular paintings. In the northeast pendentive painting, a young woman holds a closed book with the ribbon banner above incribed "Liber delectatio animae" (Books, the delight of the soul).