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22 e artist conveys this message even more clearly at each corner of the Great Hall's coved ceiling, where a pair of plas- ter, winged, nude figures (fig. 4) that are half female, half acanthus leaves supports a shield with a torch and book. e light fixtures held by his bronze statues also praise advances in technology. While not the first structure in Washington to have electric lig hting , when it opened in 1897 the Jef ferson Building was almost certainly the first government edifice in the District of Columbia to be constructed with electricity in place. This celebration of electricity is also apparent in the placement of thousands of tiny, exposed l ig ht bu lbs a l l over the Libra r y. I n their more i l lustrious guise, as well as in their poses, Martiny's staircase sculptures are analogous to what is undeniably the world 's most famous lamp bearer, New York 's Liberty Enlightening the World (1886) by the French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904), popularly known as the Statue of Liberty. Also for the Great Hall staircase, Martiny created 26 marble putti (fig. 5) in the form of partly nude or fully nude male children extending along the sides of the north and south f lights. Art historians have used numerous other labels besides putti to identify Martiny's figures, some of the most popular being angel, seraph, cherub, cupid, genie, and genius. However, none of these terms can be adequately applied to the artist's staircase sculptures. A spiritual messenger of God, an angel is usually repre- sented as a winged adult. One specific type of angel, a seraph (plural seraphs or seraphim) has six wings and is associated with the throne of God. e word cherub (plural cherubs or cherubim) has various meanings. In Near Eastern art, a Fig. 3. Gilded, torch-shaped finial and the copper dome, ca. 1896, Library of Congress, omas Jefferson Building. Fig. 4. Philip Martiny. Plaster sculptures of two female half-figures on the coved ceiling, ca. 1896, Great Hall, Library of Congress, omas Jefferson Building. THE CAPITOL DOME