The Capitol Dome

13 THE CAPITOL DOME the Battle of lake erie By WilliaM poWell: art, hiStory, and ControVerSy b y D e b r a H a n s o n C ommissioned in 1865 by the Joint Committee on the Library—the group that oversees and manages the congressional art collection—William Powell's monumental (measuring approximately 17' x 27') painting The Battle of Lake Erie was completed in 1873 and dominates the east stair- way in the Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol (see cover image). Picturing a significant naval engagement of the War of 1812, one of the early Republic's most celebrated military victories, it depicts Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry at the most deci- sive and dramatic moments of the battle: the transfer from his severely-damaged ship, the Lawrence, to the brig Niagara seen in the distance (fig. 1). The urgency of his mission is conveyed by the determined facial expressions and body language of Perry and his men and reiterated by the debris and dead bod- ies visible in the foreground. Powell shows Perry's small boat advancing through a steady barrage of enemy fire; against all odds, as history tells us, he will reach the undamaged Niagara, assume command, outmaneuver the British, and win the battle, defeating one squadron of the most power- ful naval force in the world. Buoyed by these deeds and the famous words that recorded them (fig. 2), it is little wonder that Perry soon entered the pantheon of American heroes cele- brated in image, word, and song in the early decades of the nineteenth century. In the War of 1812, his victory came at a particularly auspicious moment. Fig. 1. William Powell's The Battle of Lake Erie (1865-73) U.S. SENATE COLLECTION

• Cover