The Art Collection

Napoleon I (1769-1821) Emperor of France. Appointed a commission to draw up the Code Civil, a combination of tradition and Roman law that influenced the legal systems of European and American states during the 19th century.

This statue of Nathanael Greene was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Rhode Island in 1870.

A gun crew prepares to fire a Naval gun in one of the two great naval battles of the Spanish-American War. In the course of helping Cuba win independence from Spain the United States became prominent in world affairs by acquiring a colonial empire (Puerto Rico and Guam) and establishing naval prominence in both oceans. (1898)

The Old City Hall in New York was the meeting place for delegates from nine colonies, who drew up a Declaration of Rights.

The Congress returned to New York's old City Hall in 1785, 20 years after the meeting of state delegates in that building. Here, in 1789, George Washington was inaugurated president and the first Congress under the Constitution was convened.

This statue of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Iowa in 2014. Borlaug's statue replaced a statue of James Harlan, which Iowa had donated in 1910.

A lone explorer in a canoe enters the picture, symbolically from the east.