the engineering skill and administrative ability | are, in the Rotunda! from its size and its ornawhich carried out the plans. But to our sub-mentation the most note-worthy place in the ject again. metropolis, or perhaps in the country. It is In the July number the reader was left ex- circular, 96 feet in diameter and 96 feet amining the frescoes in the room of the Com- to the apex of the dome, which, by the mittee on Agriculture. Leaving the south way, was the original or true dome, and is wing by the embankment terrace, a brief walk brings us to the main entrance at the west front. Directly before us, as we face the building resting on the rustic basement, is a receeding portico with Corinthian columns and pilas ters; this is the front of the Library, and is sometimes called the Balcony, which is by pre contained inside of the dome recently taken down. The walls are paneled throughout the entire circuit, the panels being separated by Roman pilasters which support an entablature ornamented with wreaths of olives. The upper panels are decorated with festoons and wreaths of flowers. Four of these panels contain busts, in stone, of Columbus, Sir Walter Raleigh, Le Salle, and Cabot; the smaller panels over the doors contain each a sculpture of historical subjects; one of these is a work of much merit, and redeems, by its marks of genius, the feebleness of the remainder. It is Daniel Boone and two Indians; one of the latter is dead or dying at Boone's feet, while the survivor is contending with the hardy hunter for his life. The position of the figures-the calm, courageous determination of Boone: the bravery of the Indian, waging, as his face shows, an unequal contest: the picture the scene presents of an event but too common on our Western frontier, type, as it were, of the certain power of the white over the red race-are all exhibited with a truth and power that will strike even the most casual observer. The eight large panels nearest the floor were appropriated to paintings of a historical nature by American artists. Four of these have for a number of years been filled with Colonel Trumbull's pictures. These, through numerous descriptions and engravings, are quite familiar; still it would be inconsistent with the unity of our design to omit them from this article. It was for some time, and may still be, the fashion to deprecate these pictures, more especially by our traveled countrymen, some of whom, from a taste created and matured by Murray's GuideBook and several weeks' residence in Europe, have, ex cathedra, pronounced them mere daubs; and a supposed witticism of the eccentric John Randolph, uttered in the House of Representatives in 1828, has seemed to indorse these sentiments. Mr. R. called the picture which repreFrom the terrace we enter the basement, and sents the Declaration of Independence, "the unless we wish to descend to the Crypt prepared shin-piece." We presume that, in the same style for the remains of Washington-but, as all know, of criticism, Mr. Randolph would have designot used for that purpose-or to transact busi-nated a painting of an army as a leg-piece, ness with some Congressional Committee, we because each officer and man, at least till after will ascend this flight of steps, which, on a an action, would stand upon a pair of legs. warm day, and after a few hours of sight-see- We do not claim for Col. Trumbull a genius ing, is not a desirable undertaking. Here we or an ability of execution equal to Murillo or the CROSS SECTION OF ROTUNDA. scription a sort of love's exchange, which, during the pleasant days of the year, young men and maidens affect. author of the Dresden Madonna; still, merely as works of art, these pictures are most meritorious, and will secure in all future time a high rank, as an artist, to the painter. But a greater and yearly increasing value attaches to these works, from the fact that the artist was himself a co-laborer in the great Revolutionary struggle; a member of the military family of Washington, intimately acquainted with the persons represented, and himself a participant in the stirring scenes snatched from oblivion by the magic touch of his pencil. But still another interest in them arises from the fact that they are a gallery of genuine portraits, thus enabling us and posterity to see the features of those brave men, who struck out from the welding fires of the Revolution those golden links which formed a chain capable of binding into one great nation the feeble and isolated Colonies. The first of the series is, most appropriately, too," The Declaration of Independence." Col. Trumbull devoted himself with untiring zeal and industry, traveling from one part of the Union to another, to collect the materiel for this great design. The scene represented is the room in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, where Congress met and decided on the important step commemorated. On the right-hand side of the picture, seated at a plainly covered table, is John Hancock. the President of the Convention, whose name, in a firm, strong hand, opens the column of immortal names that are attached to the Declaration. The character of the man is visible in his open, intelligent and fearless countenance. Near the President, with the draft of the instrument in his hand, is the commanding form of its author, Jefferson, while in close proximity are Franklin, John Adams, Sherman and Livingston, members of the Committee. The members of the Convention are seated, but every eye is fixed on Jefferson, as the moment has arrived when these bold, great men, the representatives of the Colonies, are about, by the paper to be read, to dissolve the political connection of the Colonies with the Mother Country, and to proclaim to the world "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." HOWDEN'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON. Sheridan, himself an accomplished scholar and wit, basking in the sun-light of favor, he had but a few months before promised his sovereign that he would speedily crush the rebels and restore peace to his revolted provinces. Nay, more, he was under a promise to meet Clinton at Albany; but when he reached that city, a prisoner, his friend had turned back from the Highlands, having been unable, even with the treachery of Arnold, to approach nearer to Albany. This painting contains portraits of Gates, Burgoyne, Stark, Morgan, Schuyler, Putnam, and many other distinguished officers. The next picture is "The surrender of General Burgoyne, 1777," to General Gates, at Saratoga. What an hour of pride and triumph to the patriot leader and his gallant companions in arms, and what an hour of pain and mortification to the proud, haughty, and heretofore successful, British General. The intimate friend and companion of Burke, Fox and On the north-west side of the entrance to the rotunda, from the west, is the third of the series. "The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown." This represents the great closing act of the Revolutionary drama, and with this scene the banner of the Union rose triumphantly to the breeze. Though Washington was present, he yielded to General Lincoln the honor of receiving the sword and surrender of the conquered leader of the enemy. This picture possesses an interest beyond the magnitude of the event it commemorates, because, in addition to portraits of Washington, Baron Steuben, Stevens, Trumbull, Hamilton, Wayne, Lincoln and James Clinton, it furnishes also the portraits, most of them noted for their accuracy, of our noble and brave allies. The young patriot, Marquis La Fayette, Count Rochambeau, Deuxponts, and Duke de Lanzun GREENOUGH'S WASHINGTON. of the Pilgrim Fathers in the Mayflower," unquestionably a work calculated to give the painter a reputation co-extensive with the realm of modern art. We have stood for hours before it, and then returned again and again, each time to see new beauties, and to gaze upon that face of surpassing loveliness, the wife of Miles Standish. It is the very ideal of Saxon beauty-the eyes clear, deep, fearless, as a woman's eyes may be, yet devotional and confiding; they are turned upward, speaking the woman's trust in her husband, and the soul's faith in its God. There is no Grecian outline in the features-no angelic perfection in the face-it is simply the countenance of a woman beaming with intelligence and love. Miles Standish has features and form which challenge admiration, while the pale, sick boy, going forth on the tempestuous ocean, touches deeply our pity and our sympathy; nor must we forget the man of God, who, from the Bible, is finding meet words of hope and consolation and their companions are brought before us in for this brave band, who, for conscience sake, their habit as they lived. Leaving the field of battle, the artist next limns a scene in civil life, "The Resignation of General Washington, at Annapolis, December 23, 1783." Both the composition and execution of this picture called forth all the genius and skill of Col. Trumbull, and the moral grandeur of the occasion merits the efforts made. Here we see the fascinating face of the woman who won, and merited so to do, the Father of his Country. She is accompanied by her three grandchildren. Charles Carroll, with his two daughters, are also represented. This finishes the series by the artist and soldier, who evinced his patriotism not only in the field, but in his atêlier, by attempting to bring before his countrymen the scenes and men so intimately connected with the great era of the nation. are about to seek a home in a far-off and inhospitable country, where faith and religion may dwell together in unison, without fear or restraint. This, like Trumbull's works, is national and historical, but not so, to our thinking, are the other works we have named. There is also in the rotunda a plaster cast from Howden's statue of Washington at Richmond, Virginia. As the original is admitted to be a most perfect likeness of the great man it represents, we trust a marble copy may be made to replace this cast, which is not calculated to call forth any very warm feelings of admiration. But let us pass out on the eastern portico again, and examine the statuary. Greenough, it is claimed by his admirers, had far more genius, far more of the poetry of his art, than any other American sculptor. Whether The "Baptism of Pocahontas" was the sub- this is true or not, it cannot, we conceive, furject selected by Chapman to fill the panel as-nish the sole ground upon which his claims to signed to him, but we have not space now to fame and immortality as an artist are to rest. enlarge upon this picture, nor upon its imme- The genius of conception is doubtless the first diate neighbor, "The Discovery of the Missis-order of genius, but without the power to give sippi by De Soto," by Powell, beyond the re- form and vitality to the workings of the imagimark that the temperature varies very much nation, such genius can never make a great in the painting, for while on one side two In- sculptor or painter, poet or actor. We do not dian women are without any garments, and mean that a sculptor must necessarily be able seem quite comfortable, on the opposite side a to manipulate the marble, but he must have man is wrapped in a large sized buffalo robe. the power so to model his conceptions as disHowever, the design and composition are tinctly to convey to other and less imaginative much more amenable to severe criticism than and poetical minds the thought that pervades the execution. The "Landing of Columbus," his own. Originality alone, we know, is not by Vanderlye, fills the next panel, and then necessarily genius; but where there is little or comes Weir's great picture of the "Departure no originality in a purely imaginative work, we may at least doubt the existence of a high creative power. To carry out this view, if Greenough's statue of Washington is simply imaginative, then it is not original, for Jupiter, years since, was represented in a similar position, reversing the arms, and similarly costumed; real and great genius would have discovered an attitude, not have copied it; or rather, have created the position itself. If it is not imaginative, but is intended to be an effigy of Washington, then why give him an attitude inconsistent with his nature and his duties! and throw around him a nondescript drapery, and place in his hand a sword, the style of which, even, he never saw or heard of? There is something very incongruous in this; we know that many claim that a statue must be draped in what is called classical style, but we deny the truth of the proposition, for why is it any more true of statuary than of painting or poetry? Suppose Trumbull had stripped Hancock and the members of the Convention of their national garments, and painted them all in Roman togas? Yet the argument used, that fashions change so frequently, that a statue of any, subject having lived a half a century since, costumed correctly, would have on a dress quite as outre as a toga, must apply as well to paintings as to statuary. And who will admit that only Roman or Grecian robes should be worn in pictures? Greenough's statue of Washington. in the grounds east of the Capitol, has greatly disappointed most persons who have seen it, and we are of the number, for some of the reasons expressed above. It is not a likeness of Washington, nor are the proportions of the figure his; but what is he doing with the uplifted finger? Is it defiant, supplicatory, or thankful? Is it raised to Deity, or as a warning to man? We are aware what the artist's admirers say it means, but that is our cause of just complaint; the conception of genius has not been made manifest to the ordinary mind, else there would be no question of its attitude or its character. An artist who examined the statue with us, himself a true child of genius, says it was not meant as a representation of Washington, but is intended as an incarnation of Patriotism, made in resemblance of Washington because he was a patriot; that having achieved all that patriotism can do, the liberty of his country, he is thanking God for mercies so great. If this was the design of the artist, then he did not fulfill his contract with the Government, for they desired a statue of a real man, not a symbolical design. Mr. Clark Mills is designing and executing an MARCH OF CIVILIZATION. equestrian statue of Washington. Suppose that Mr. Mills should conclude that a Centaur is the ideal of equestrian perfection, and should give us Washington as a Centaur, would that be more out of place than Greenough's Jupiter, with a slight likeness of the hero? There is what purports to be a Latin inscription on the Monument; it is: "Simulacrum istud Ad magnum LIBERTATIS exemplum Is this good Latin? Faciebat is novel in this connection, and if it can be properly translated it is an affectation. Why not have the motto in simple, pure English, so that every person who reads it may comprehend its meaning? We Americans, as a people, are tolerably well educated for the duties of life, but Latin is not a national accomplishment, and its use, in its present position, has no beneficial tendency, and only serves to mortify a large majority of those who see and are wholly unable to translate it. The cheek blocks of the eastern portico support each a group of statuary; certainly a bad location, as they injure the symmetry of the building and detract from its unity of design, and the statuary itself is in a bad position to be looked at or seen; a fair front view cannot be obtained, except by placing yourself 20 feet below the group, and 30 feet, at least, distant; this cannot be the proper stand-point to see the beauties of the works. Persico's group, "Columbus" and the "Indian Girl," is fanciful, but not altogether free from grave objections; the attitude of the girl is constrained and un natural, and not chaste. It is exquisitely exe- | see the result of the deadly struggle, not, as is, however, in a natural and graceful attitude; The opposite group consists of five figures, colossal in size. The type of our race, represented by a Backwoodsman, is not consistent with the idea he is far too heavily made; his muscles have more the look of the anvil than the rifle and the woods, and the costume is Scotch, and the bonnet and shirt are not American. The Indian is much better, but his face is dark and frowning; and though the hunter's knife must have reached the citadel of life, not a muscle has relaxed, nor does his countenance The vestibule of the basement of the northexhibit any of the agony which the nerves, ern wing, entering from the east, requires, from thus suddenly shocked, must evince. Indian its novelty and beauty, peculiar mention; it is traditionary stoicism cannot overcome the ter- 52 feet 9 inches in length, 27 feet wide, and 17 rible agonies of sudden dissolution from so vio-in hight; the ceiling is arched, and is supported lent a cause. The Hunter lacks determination by eight massive piers or pillars, with caps orand fixedness of purpose; he is too merely ani- namented with wreaths and foliage, with an mal, which does great injustice to the natural equal number of pilasters. The finish and style intelligence of the Western pioneer. The wife, of this room are not Grecian, or, in fact, a likeit seems to us, should have been placed so as to ness of any ancient school, and may perhaps be |