The Art Collection

Only the north (Senate) wing of the U.S. Capitol Building was ready for the Congress by 1800. As construction continued on the rest of the building, this wing accommodated the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the district courts.

In August 1814, during the War of 1812, invading British troops burned the U.S. Capitol and other buildings in Washington. That fall, Congress met in the Patent Office building (now the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian American Art Museum).

Only the north (Senate) wing of the U.S. Capitol Building was ready for the Congress by 1800. As construction continued on the rest of the building, this wing accommodated the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the district courts.

The U.S. Capitol Building and Grounds were first completed by Charles Bulfinch in 1829. This image shows the building's East Front.

The expansion of the nation led to the growth of the Congress, and by 1850 the Capitol Building was much too small. Over a period of 17 years, the present House and Senate wings were added to the old building and the low central dome was replaced with a cast-iron dome better suited to the enlarged Capitol.

The craft is shown as a family operation, with children carding the wool, a young woman spinning it, and an older woman operating a loom.

Emanuel Leutze's mural celebrates the western expansion of the United States. A group of pioneers and their train of covered wagons are pictured at the continental divide, looking towards the sunset and the Pacific Ocean. The border depicts vignettes of exploration and frontier mythology. Beneath the central composition is a panoramic view of their destination"Golden Gate," in San Francisco Bay. The mural's title is a verse from the poem 'On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America' by Bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753).