Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/216603
ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL Fig. 5. Landing of the Pilgrims, 1620, by Enrico Causici, 1825, sandstone, Capitol Rotunda, above east door. The next painting to be installed was by Robert W. Weir, a New York artist of the Hudson River School. Just as Chapman's painting memorialized an enduring myth of the founding of Virginia, Weir's painting presents a founding myth of the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. Commissioned in 1837 and hung in 1844, the New England founders are portrayed in prayer in The Embarkation of the Pilgrims (fig. 9). The image is that of the Chosen People about to embark to found a New World of religious freedom. The settlement at Plymouth, Massachusetts became the premier founding myth of the nation since it was associated with the origins of American democracy in the Mayflower Compact. The evidence of arms and armor in the picture points to the use of force to SUMMER 2013 accomplish their providential mission as was the case of the Israelites in their conquest of Canaan. The next Rotunda painting was the Landing of Columbus at the Island of Guanahani, West Indies (fig. 10). The artist, John Vanderlyn, was trained under Gilbert Stuart in London but then went on to be the first of the American painters to train in France. Commissioned in 1842, his painting gave visual form to the actions depicted in Washington Irving's romanticized biography of Christopher Columbus. In a recurrent theme in the portrayals in various media in the Capitol, the explorer stands triumphant in the center with a drawn sword while bearing the standard of the Spanish monarchs with a cross also present. The Europeans form the largest part of the picture with the natives on the side gazing THE CAPITOL DOME 27