The Capitol Dome

29 finishing his education in Paris, Blashfield did visit the Panthéon to study the allegorical images of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–1898), Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry (1828–1886), and Jean-Paul Laurens (1838–1921), three major French mural painters of the late nineteenth centu- ry. In addition to their murals, Blashfield would undoubt- edly have also seen Gros's Apotheosis of Sainte-Geneviève at the Panthéon. Encircling the border of Gros's mural is a clockwise, chronological progression of more than a thousand years of French history that includes depictions of French rulers, such as Charlemagne (742– 814), King of the Franks, and Louis XVIII (1755–1824), the recently deceased Bourbon monarch. Located directly opposite from each other in this mural, both kings gesture to ivory tablets inscribed with Charlemagne's Capitulaire Universal, or Universal Capit- ulary (802), the foundation law code of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Charte, or Charter of the Restoration (1814) of Louis XVIII, which established a constitutional monarchy in France. As with Gros's French monarchs, Blashfield also included white plaques next to his personi- fications that identify them, as well as lavender banderoles listing their contributions to the evolution of civilization. Remarkable parallels are likewise evident in the depic- tions of Sainte-Geneviève and Human Understanding. Seen to the le of Louis XVIII, Geneviève is elevated on clouds above the rim of Gros's mural. Flanked by two cher- ubs holding garlands, the veiled Geneviève sits with an open book in her lap and raises her arms as if to touch one of these bouquets. Located within the recessed oculus of Blash- field's mural at the apex of the Main Reading Room dome, Fig. 17. Edwin Howland Blashfield. Human Understand- ing om the Evolution of Civilization, 1895–1896, oil on canvas, Main Reading Room, Library of Congress, omas Jefferson Building. Fig. 18. Main Reading Room, Library of Congress, omas Jefferson Building. THE CAPITOL DOME

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