Location: [Reed College] [Department of English] [Laura Arnold][ Nation and Narration]
As part of his design for the Capitol Building, architect Charles Bulfinch comissioned a series of paintings for the Rotunda and the dome. These paintings had a clear political message. As art historian Pamela Scott puts it, "Bulfinch's introduction of pre-Revolutionary American historical events signaled the passing of the vision of the Capitol's dome and Rotunda as a symbol of national union, the primary preoccupation of Washington and Jefferson. Its new function was to mark the places where the concept of Manifest Destiny was codified. As Euro-Americans moved westward, they justified the displacement of Native Americans on the grounds that they were bringing 'civilization' to a savage, untamed world" (Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation, 63-64).The paintings of the Capitol Building Rotunda are
As you view these paintings, you might want to consider what message they send about the mission of the American nation. How do each of the artists use cultural others to help invent an image of the nation? What is the role of cultural others within the nation? Why these explorers?
Also, these thematically related statues used to be on display in the Capitol Building, but they are now in storage. Why do you think they are no longer seen as appropriate "national" images? How do they differ from the Rotunda paintings?
Discovery of America by Luigi Persico and Rescue by Horatio Greenough
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