BGuthrie Photos: DC -- U.S. Capitol (interior) -- Rotunda

DC -- U.S. Capitol (interior) -- Rotunda:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. CAPROT_221229_030.JPG: Enrico Causici, of Verona, Fecit.
2. CAPROT_221229_047.JPG: 1606 A. Capellano Fecit. 1825
3. CAPROT_221229_052.JPG: Enrico Causici, of Verona, Fecit. [ Note that the first name as engraved was apparently done incorrectly. You can see it started with an "H" and some other character but these were covered up. ]
4. CAPROT_221229_055.JPG: Thomas Jefferson Statue The Basics Artist: Pierre-Jean David d’Angers Materials: Bronze Year: 1834 Location: Capitol Rotunda This statue of Thomas Jefferson was the first full-length portrait statue placed in the U.S Capitol Building. Its bronze medium was unusual in early 19th-century America, where sculpture was more commonly carved in marble. Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 at his prosperous family’s home in Albemarle County, Virginia. He attended the College of William and Mary. After graduating in 1762, he studied the law, was admitted to the bar in 1767, and practiced for several years. In 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton; the couple would have six children, only two of whom survived to adulthood. Jefferson served in the Continental Congress and in 1776 was chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence. Later that year, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. He served as Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781. Jefferson’s federal service included the positions of trade commissioner and minister to France (1784–1789), first Secretary of State (1790–1793), and Vice President of the United States (1797–1801). In 1801, he defeated John Adams to be elected President. During his first term the Louisiana Territory was purchased and the Lewis and Clark expedition was launched. After serving a second term as President, Jefferson retired to Monticello. He remodeled and added to the home, which he had started building at age 26. He donated 6,487 books to the Library of Congress, the foundation for a national library. Jefferson founded the University of Virginia, for which he designed the buildings, and served as its first rector. Jefferson died on July 4, 1826. The Statue Thomas Jefferson is depicted in his best known role as author of the Declaration of Independence. He stands in a dynamic contrapposto pose with his right hand holding a quill pen. The pen’s tip points to Jefferson's left hand, which holds the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson's famous words, which are readable, were created by pressing type into the statue's clay model. Two bound books—perhaps representing the collection that he donated to the Library of Congress—and a wreath, a symbol of victory, lie at his feet. The statue's pedestal is composed of marble and granite, in contrasting colors. The front inscription reads "JEFFERSON." The statue of Thomas Jefferson was privately commissioned by Uriah Phillips Levy as a gift to the American people. A lieutenant in the Navy, Levy admired Jefferson's politics, social philosophies and views on religious freedom; he held Jefferson in such esteem that in 1836 he purchased Monticello, which had been neglected, and restored it. The statue was sculpted in France by Pierre-Jean David d’Angers and cast by Honor� Gonon and Sons using the lost-wax technique. On March 21, 1834, the statue was placed in the center of the Capitol Rotunda. Members of the House of Representatives expressed concern regarding the acceptance of the statue as a gift, its placement and the use of bronze rather than the more traditional marble. Over the next decade, the statue was variously displayed in the Capitol Rotunda and other areas of the building, while never being formally accepted by the Congress. Beginning in the mid to late 1840s, it was displayed on the grounds of the White House. Years later, its neglected condition attracted attention and led to renewed interest in its history. In 1874, the Congress passed a resolution to accept the statue and appropriated funds for its repair. After restoration, the statue was placed in National Statuary Hall and, in 1900, it was moved back to the Rotunda, where it has remained. The Sculptor Pierre-Jean David, usually called David d’Angers, was on born March 12, 1788, in Angers, France. As a young man, he worked in the Paris studio of sculptor Philippe-Laurent Roland. In 1811, he won the Prix de Rome, which funded study in Rome. While in Italy he studied the antiquities and met sculptor Andrea Canova. Both Canova and Roland worked in the neoclassical style, but d’Angers was innovative in his naturalism and romanticism. In 1826, d’Angers was appointed professor of the French art academy, the �cole des Beaux-Arts. He was a prolific artist, creating numerous monuments, portrait busts and profile medallions. His other works in the Capitol include busts of President George Washington and General Lafayette. d’Angers' republican beliefs resulted in his exile after Napolean III's coup d’�tat in 1851, but he returned to France in 1853 and died there in 1856. The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/thomas-jefferson-statue
5. CAPROT_221229_057.JPG: Ulysses S. Grant Statue The Basics Artist: Franklin Simmons Materials: Marble Year: 1899 Location: Capitol Rotunda This statue depicts American general and president Ulysses S. Grant in the uniform of the Union army. On his shoulders are four stars denoting him as "General of the Army of the United States," a rank that he was the first to hold. Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. Appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1839, he arrived to learn that he had been erroneously enrolled as Ulysses Simpson (his mother’s maiden name) Grant. The roll could not be corrected, so Grant changed his name. Upon graduation he was posted near St. Louis, where he met his future wife, Julia Dent. After distinguished service in the Mexican War and at several garrison postings, he resigned his commission in 1854. Volunteering to return to service in the Union cause after the start of the Civil War, Grant held a series of increasingly responsible commands and was the strategist of victories that earned him national attention. He also earned the respect of President Abraham Lincoln, and his achievements at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and Appomattox were decisive in the course and outcome of the war. After the war, Grant initially supported the reconstruction of the South but grew disenchanted to the point of supporting President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment. Running as a Republican for president, he was easily elected in 1868 and re-elected in 1872. His political inexperience and misplaced trust in unscrupulous advisers, however, led to scandal despite his own innocence of corruption. After leaving office he toured the world with his family and unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination in 1880. A partnership in a brokerage firm that failed left him bankrupt. He spent the last months of his life writing his war memoirs, which were published posthumously by Mark Twain and ultimately earned his family $450,000. Grant died of throat cancer on July 23, 1885, and is entombed with his wife in New York City, in a mausoleum on Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River. The Statue In Grant's statue, he looks slightly to his left with a serious expression. On his shoulders are four stars denoting him as "General of the Army of the United States," a rank that he was the first to hold. A cape is draped over his left forearm, and his left hand holds the grip and guard of a sheathed sword. His right arm, with gloved hand, hangs by his side. Over his trousers are knee-high boots, and his left foot comes to the front of the self base. The tree stump behind his right leg provides support for the statue. On the front of the self base is inscribed "GEN. U. S. GRANT"; at the front of the proper right side is inscribed "FRANKLIN SIMMONS / FECIT 1899." The right and left sides of the pedestal are inscribed "PRESENTED BY / THE GRAND ARMY / OF THE REPUBLIC"; the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was an organization of Union Army veterans. On the front of the pedestal, crossed bronze laurel and oak branches (symbolic of victory and strength, respectively) underlie a bronze relief plaque depicting the GAR badge in the form of a medal. The Sculptor Sculptor Franklin Simmons, born in Maine in 1839, developed an early interest in painting and sculpture. After college he moved to Washington, D.C., where he sculpted relief portrait busts of cabinet members and military officers. In 1867, he moved with his wife to Rome and established a studio; except for occasional trips back to the United States, he remained there for the rest of his life. Working in the neoclassical style, he created statues and busts of figures from public life, mythology, and literature. He was commissioned by the Grand Army of the Republic to sculpt a statue of General Grant to be given to the Congress, and legislation passed in 1890 authorized its acceptance. The first statue that Simmons created was not approved because it was not a good likeness; he sent a second version in 1899, and it was placed in the Rotunda in 1900. His other works on Capitol Hill include Peace Monument on the Capitol Grounds; statues of William King, Francis Harrison Pierpont, and Roger Williams in the National Statuary Hall collection; and busts of Vice Presidents Charles W. Fairbanks, Hannibal Hamlin and Adlai E. Stevenson in the United States Senate collection. Simmons died in Rome in 1913. The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/ulysses-s-grant-statue
6. CAPROT_221229_069.JPG: La Sale
7. CAPROT_221229_092.JPG: The guide pointed out that the funny patterned layer was material from the Berlin Wall
8. CAPROT_221229_099.JPG: Ronald Wilson Reagan Statue The Basics Artist: Chas Fagan Materials: Bronze Year: 2009 Location: Capitol Rotunda This statue of President Ronald Wilson Reagan was donated to the National Statuary Hall Collection by California in 2009. Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois; was graduated from Eureka College in 1932; and became a radio sports announcer. In 1937, he began a 29-year acting career that included over 60 films and dozens of television programs. From 1940 until 1948 he was married to actress Jane Wyman, with whom he had two children. In the army during World War II, his nearsightedness kept him from combat duty, so he worked in the training-film unit for three years. After the war he returned to Hollywood, and in 1947–1952 and 1959–1960 he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. In 1952, he wed actress Nancy Davis; the couple had two children and remained married for the rest of his life. Running as a Republican, Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966 and re-elected in 1970. In 1980, he was elected president of the United States; he was re-elected in 1984. In 1994, five years after leaving office, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. On June 5, 2004, he passed away at the age of 93. His body lay in repose at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and then lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. After a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on June 11, his body was interred at the Reagan Library. The Statue The former president is depicted as he looked during his term in office, 1981 to 1989. He appears to stand tall but relaxed, a genial and confident smile on his face. He wears his preferred custom-made single-breasted suit and a striped necktie; his right arm is by his side and his left hand rests atop a square column. The torch that appears in low relief on the column suggests the torch of the Statue of Liberty, to which Reagan often referred in speeches as "the torch of freedom" or "Liberty's flame." Eagles decorate the corners of the capital. Reagan's feet are slightly splayed, and the toe of his right shoe overhangs the self base. The Tennessee Rose marble pedestal, designed by architect James McCrery, includes a narrow band of concrete pieces from the Berlin Wall, the scene of the 1987 speech in which Reagan demanded of the Soviet Premier, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The front of the pedestal is inscribed with Reagan's name, his life dates and the state name California. On the right and left sides are bronze reliefs of the seals of the offices he held, governor of the State of California and president of the United States; inscribed below them are his terms of service. A bronze plaque on the rear of the pedestal bears a quotation from Reagan's speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention: "America's best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead." The California legislature and governor delegated responsibility for the creation of the statue to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation, which selected sculptor Chas Fagan and oversaw the design and approval process. This was the second instance of a state's replacing a previously donated statue since such action was authorized by the Congress in 2000 under Public Law 106-554 (40 U.S.C. 187a). The statue was unveiled in the United States Capitol Rotunda on June 3, 2009 (pictured above). The Sculptor Chas Fagan is a self-taught artist who grew up in Brussels, Belgium, where he visited museums and sketched the works of great European masters; he later graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a degree in Russian and East European studies. He has painted portraits of Mrs. Barbara Bush, President Reagan, Speaker of the House Tom Foley, and a complete set of presidents for C-SPAN's American Presidents. He has completed sculptural portraits of President George H. W. Bush; Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene; and, for the National Cathedral, John Donne, Rosa Parks, and Mother Theresa. The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/ronald-wilson-reagan-statue
9. CAPROT_221229_101.JPG: Dwight D. Eisenhower Statue The Basics Artist: Jim Brothers Materials: Bronze Year: 2003 Location: Capitol Rotunda This statue of Dwight Eisenhower was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Kansas in 2003. Dwight David Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, on October 14, 1890. His family moved to Abilene, Kansas, when he was less than a year old. Throughout school he distinguished himself as an athlete, and was a star halfback at the Military Academy at West Point until a knee injury ended his football career. He graduated in 1915 and was stationed in San Antonio, Texas, where he met his future wife, Mamie Doud. During World War I Eisenhower wished to lead troops in France, but because of his skills as an instructor he was kept stateside. He next attended the army's Tank School; served in the Panama Canal Zone; and continued his education at the Command and General Staff School (graduating first in a class of 275) and the Army War College. Noted as an outstanding staff officer, he next served in the Philippines as assistant to General Douglas MacArthur. A series of increasingly responsible assignments and promotions followed, and in June 1942 Eisenhower was given command of all U.S. forces in the European Theater of Operations. He directed the invasions of Africa, Sicily and Italy and then was called to take command of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), in preparation for the invasion of France. After the success of the D-Day landing, he continued to direct the Allied forces through the end of the war. Eisenhower commanded the occupation forces for six months and then succeeded General George C. Marshall as Army chief of staff. He resisted appeals to run for political office, served for a year as president of Columbia University, and then was selected to command NATO military forces. In 1952 he accepted the Republican presidential nomination and was elected the nation's 34th president; he was reelected in 1956. The campaign slogan "I Like Ike" reflected widespread appreciation of Eisenhower's sincerity, generosity and kindness. His time in office saw the end of the Korean War, the continuation of the Cold War, and the beginning of school desegregation. After leaving office he was respected as an elder statesman and remained popular among Americans. He died on March 28, 1969, and is buried in Abilene, Kansas. The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/dwight-d-eisenhower-statue
10. CAPROT_221229_109.JPG: (c) 2002 Jim Brothers
11. CAPROT_221229_173.JPG: Rotunda Frescoes: The Apotheosis of George Washington: The canopy fresco was painted by Constantino Brumidi in 1865. Born in 1805 and trained in Rome, Brumidi emigrated to the United States in 1852 and created murals in the Capitol from 1855 until his death in 1880. Brumidi painted the canopy fresco over a period of eleven months as the new cast-iron dome was being completed. The word apotheosis means the raising of a person to the rank of a god, or the glorification of a person as an ideal. George Washington is shown rising to the heavens, accompanied by figures representing Liberty/Authority and Victory/Fame, and the original thirteen states. On the earth below are scenes in which Roman gods and goddesses interact with figures and objects from American history and technology. (A) "War." Armed Freedom and the eagle defeat Tyranny and Kingly Power. (B) "Science." Minerva, goddess of wisdom, teaches American inventors Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, and Samuel F.B. Morse. (C) "Marine." Neptune, god of the sea, and Venus hold the transatlantic cable to carry telegraph signals. (D) "Commerce." Mercury, god of commerce, hands a bag of money to American Revolution financier Robert Morris. (E) "Mechanics." Vulcan, god of the forge, produces a cannon and a steam engine. (F) "Agriculture." Ceres, goddess of agriculture, is seated on the McCormick Reaper. The Frieze of American History: Almost 60 feet above the Rotunda floor, this 300-foot-long fresco is painted in shades of white and brown to look like carved stone. Three artists painted the frieze. Constantino Brumidi designed scenes tracing America's history from the landing of Columbus to the California gold rush. He began painting in 1878 but after almost falling from the scaffold in October 1879, he concentrated on completing the full-size drawings in his studio. After Brumidi's death in 1880, Filippo Costaggini completed the rest of the scenes designed by Brumidi. When he finished in 1889 a gap of over 31 feet remained, most likely due to misinformation about the height of the frieze when Brumidi was designing it. In 1952-1953, Allyn Cox added the last three panels. A major conservation project in 1986-1987 restored some original details and the vividness of the illusion of relief sculpture. The sequence begins over the west door and continues clockwise. (1) "America and History." America, wearing a liberty cap, stands between an Indian maider and a figure representing History. (2) "Landing of Columbus" (1492). Christopher Columbus lands in the New World and is greeted by Native Americans. (3) "Cortez and Montezuma at Mexican Temple" (1520). Aztec Emperor Montezuma II welcomes the Spaniard Hernando Cortez, conquerer of Mexico. (4) "Pizarro Going to Peru" (1533). Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conqueror of Peru, searches for El Dorado, the mythical land of gold. (5) "Burial of DeSoto" (1542). Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto is buried in the Mississippi River, which he had been the first European to discover. (6) "Captain Smith and Pocahontas" (1607). Pocahontas saves Captain John Smith, a founder of Jamestown, Virginia, from being killed. (7) "Landing of the Pilgrims" (1620). A group of Pilgrims, led by William Brewster, gives thanks for a safe voyage after arriving in Plymouth, Massachusetts. (8) "William Penn and the Indians" (1682). Penn's treaty with the Delaware Indians formalized the transfer of land that began peaceful relations in Pennsylvania. (9) "Colonization of New England." Early settlers construct a timber-framed building. (10) "Oglethorpe and the Indians" (1732). James Oglethorpe, founder and first governor of the colony of Georgia, makes peace with the Muskogee Indians. (11) "Battle of Lexington" (1775). British troops led by Major Pitcairn fire on colonists, beginning the American Revolution with "the shot heard around the world." (12) "Declaration of Independence" (1776). The principal authors of the Declaration, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, read the document to colonists. (13) "Surrender of Cornwallis" (1781). General George Washington accepts the surrender of Lord Cornwallis's representative after the last battle of the American Revolution. (14) "Death of Tecumseh" (1813). Tecumseh's death ended his tribe's confederacy with the British against American settlers. (15) "American Army Entering the City of Mexico" (1847). General Winfield Scott and his troops arrive in Mexico City during the Mexican War. (16) "Discovery of Gold in California" (1848). Prospectors dig and pan for gold at the start of the California gold rush. (17) "Peace at the End of the Civil War" (1865). Confederate and Union soldiers shake hands, marking the country's reunion after the Civil War. (18) "Naval Gun Crew in the Spanish-American War" (1898). The crew loads a cannon in the war in which Cuba and Puerto Rico were freed from Spanish rule. (19) "The Birth of Aviation" (1903). The Wright brothers' first flight is shown with earlier designers of flying machines, including Leonardo da Vinci.
12. CAPROT_221229_184.JPG: Declaration of Independence One of four revolutionary period scenes in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. The Basics Artist: John Trumbull Materials: Oil on canvas Year: 1826 Dimensions: 12' x 18' Location: Capitol Rotunda This painting depicts the moment on June 28, 1776, when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress. The document stated the principles for which the Revolutionary War was being fought and which remain fundamental to the nation. Less than a week later, on July 4, 1776, the Declaration was officially adopted, it was later signed on August 2, 1776. In the central group in the painting, Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, is shown placing the document before John Hancock, president of the Congress. With him stand the other members of the committee that created the draft: John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston and Benjamin Franklin. This event occurred in the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. This is the first completed painting of four Revolutionary-era scenes that the U.S. Congress commissioned from John Trumbull (1756–1843) in 1817. It is an enlarged version of a smaller painting (approximately 21 inches by 31 inches) that the artist had created as part of a series to document the events of the American revolution. When Trumbull was planning the smaller painting in 1786, he decided not to attempt a wholly accurate rendering of the scene; rather, he made his goal the preservation of the images of the Nation’s founders. He excluded those for whom no authoritative image could be found or created, and he included delegates who were not in attendance at the time of the event. In all, 47 individuals (42 of the 56 signers and 5 other patriots) are depicted, all painted from life or life portraits. Some of the room’s architectural features (e.g., the number and placement of doors and windows) differ from historical fact, having been based on an inaccurate sketch that Thomas Jefferson produced from memory in Paris. Trumbull also painted more elegant furniture, covered the windows with heavy draperies rather than venetian blinds, and decorated the room’s rear wall with captured British military flags, believing that such trophies were probably displayed there. The exhibition of this small painting (now owned by the Yale University art gallery) was instrumental in securing for the 61-year-old artist a commission to create monumental paintings for the U.S. Capitol. Trumbull created the enlarged painting for the Rotunda between August 1817 and September 1818. On October 5, 1818, the painting was put on public view at the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York. Over the next four months, he exhibited it in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore; it was in the Capitol early in 1819 and was displayed or stored in various rooms until 1826, when it and Trumbull’s other three paintings were installed in the Rotunda. Declaration of Independence balances the last of Trumbull’s Rotunda paintings, General George Washington Resigning His Commission. The two paintings are similar in composition, with figures seated and standing in the background. The central action in each is the presentation of papers: here, by Thomas Jefferson; in Washington Resigning, by George Washington. Both scenes take place in the chambers of a civilian legislature, and Trumbull’s use of similar chairs in the two paintings subtly reinforces their relationship. Trumbull performed the first cleaning and restoration of his Rotunda paintings in 1828, applying wax to their backs to protect them from dampness and cleaning and re-varnishing their surfaces. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries the painting was cleaned, restored, varnished, and relined. All of the Rotunda paintings were most recently cleaned in 2008. An 1820 engraving of Declaration of Independence by Asher B. Durand, who would later become a renowned landscape painter, helped to make it Trumbull’s most famous painting. It is pictured on the reverse of the two-dollar bill and has appeared on U. S. postage stamps: a 24-cent stamp in the series of 1869 and two sets of bicentennial stamps in 1976 (a sheet of five 18-cent stamps and a strip of four 13-cent stamps). The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/declaration-independence
13. CAPROT_221229_200.JPG: George Washington Statue The Basics Artist: Jean Antoine Houdon Materials: Bronze Year: 1934 Location: Capitol Rotunda This statue of George Washington was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Virginia in 1934. George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. After his father's death in 1743, he lived chiefly at Mount Vernon and worked as a surveyor. Sent by Governor Dinwiddie in 1753 to warn the French against encroaching on land in the Ohio Valley, he served in the French and Indian War as a lieutenant colonel. He was obliged to surrender Fort Necessity on July 3, 1754; distinguished himself in the engagement known as Braddock's Defeat on July 9, 1755; and participated in the capture of Fort Duquesne in 1758. He inherited Mount Vernon from his half-brother Lawrence in 1752. He married Martha Custis on January 6, 1759, and entered the Virginia House of Burgesses that same year. A leader in the movement for independence, he was a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. On June 15, 1775, he was chosen to command the Continental Army, and he assumed his duties on July 3, 1775. He took leave of his officers at Fraunces' Tavern, New York, on December 4, 1783, and retired to Mount Vernon. Returning to public life, he attended the Annapolis Convention in 1786 and presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Unanimously elected the first President of the United States, he was inaugurated in New York on April 30, 1789, served for two terms, and declined a third. When war with France threatened in 1798, he was called from retirement as commander in chief, but hostilities were averted. He died on December 14, 1799, and is buried at Mount Vernon. The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/george-washington-statue
14. CAPROT_221229_249.JPG: "America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." -- Harry S. Truman
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