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denly become "America's foremost patron of the arts." 8 His desire to beautify the Capitol with murals and sculpture had become widely known, and artists sought eagerly for his attention. Thus it was that the Roman fresco painter Brumidi was introduced to him in late 1854. It may have been no coincidence that in early April 1855 Federico Casali, also from Rome and friend and travel companion of Brumidi, approached Meigs seeking work as a modeler and bronze founder. 9 As was Meigs's custom when working with art- ists, he asked Casali to produce a trial sketch. In his journal, Meigs wrote "I told him to make me a sketch for the decora- tion of a door, and thus to let me see what he could do, and then I could give him an answer." 10 A sketch for the gallery doors for the House of Representatives dates from the time and, although signed by Meigs, is likely the requested sketch by the hand of Casali (fig. 3). 11 Meigs hired Casali within a few days to "do some work on the doors of the Extension," and the modeler and founder went to work quickly. 12 Ini- tially, he seems to have worked alone and with modest tools, but eventually Meigs hired workmen and built new equip- ment, including a bronze furnace and chimney. Casali's ear- liest work consisted of modeling ornaments for the doors and casting snakes, the latter of which was the focus of much of his first year at the Capitol. The bronze snakes were among the most notable of Casali's works, in large part because they were cast from nature. Meigs had been interested in obtaining such castings even before hiring Casali, valuing their accuracy and liveliness. The bronze work at the Capitol gained the attention of The Crayon, which in the fall of 1855 published an article entitled "Casting from Life," praising the snakes and the work of the very competent artist (unnamed, but surely Casali). While visiting work sites for Fort Madison (a now-abandoned site in present-day Annapolis, MD) and the Washington Aqueduct, Meigs caught black snakes and copperheads and gave them to Casali for casting. Casali took molds directly from the bodies of the snakes, which were unfortunately killed in preparation for that process. Meigs wrote often in his journals about catching snakes and even kept the reptiles in his office. The Crayon article singles out a cast of a cop- perhead, noting that "every curve and scale…is preserved, with a fidelity to nature with which mere art cannot vie," and goes on to say that the work is of the highest artistic and mechanical merit and demonstrates the progress of fine art in the United States. 13 Four notable snake castings by Casali are door handles still in place today on a pair of doors at the east entry to the House Chamber (fig. 4). The idea for them came to Meigs on a trip catching snakes with his son Monty, when he cap- tured two 5-foot-long black snakes. Believing they would 18 THE CAPITOL DOME Fig. 4. East entry to the House chamber Fig. 3. Sketch for the gallery doors for the House of Representatives