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4 can Academy in Rome in 1916. While there, he studied Classical and Renaissance-era decorative painting, and under the guidance of what he described as "practitioners of the great school of fresco painting stemming from Raphael," mastered the use of traditional methods such as grisaille, a type of painting in monochrome, and trompe l'oeil, a technique that "fools the eye" by creating an illu- sion of three dimensions on a flat two-dimensional surface. 6 is training was instrumental to his future work at the Capitol, since the still-incomplete Frieze of American History had been painted in grisaille intended to resemble sculpture, the medium in which it was originally conceived by architect omas U. Walter. In completing a work begun by Brumidi, Cox needed to match his style as closely as possible (figs. 5a, 5b, 5c). Upon completing his academic training in Italy, he returned to America to carry out mural commissions in a variety of public and private buildings, and was soon recognized as "capable of painting on a large scale, and in a variety of subjects and treatments." 7 Fig. 2. Allyn Cox (right) and Fred Schwengel at the 1982 "Day of Recognition" ceremony held in Cox's honor in Statuary Hall Fig. 3a. Allyn Cox, Corridor I, e Hall of Capitols , overview Fig. 3b. Detail, "Capitol Cornerstone Ceremony" ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL