John Cabot Relief Sculpture

Above four of the large Rotunda paintings in the U.S. Capitol are decorative panels of wreaths and portraits of early explorers carved in relief into the sandstone walls. The three sculptors who decorated the Rotunda were employed during the rebuilding of the Capitol after the fire of 1814.

Between the decorative panels of wreaths and portraits, historic scenes, also in relief, circle the Rotunda walls.