The Capitol Dome

27 implements in one hand while shadowing his face with the other. Painted around the beginning of his professional life, the artist undoubtedly wishes to project the idea that he is embarking on what would become a successful career. By shading his eyes and gazing intently beyond the viewer, he presents himself as a visionar y who can already see his future accomplishments. Seen in this light, Martiny's America putto is far more analogous to the self-aggrandiz- ing self-portrait by Reynolds rather than to other artists' anticipation of a rendezvous between lovers. e America putto holds his hand up to his eyes and looks beyond the Great Hall into the distance, envisioning the many ways that the United States will carry civilization into the future through its countless achievements. roughout the Jefferson Building are other works of art that promote American exceptionalism, as Martiny's America putto does. Undoubtedly the most significant example is e Evolution of Civilization (fig. 14) (1895– 1896) by Edwin Howland Blashfield (1848–1936), a lead- ing figure in mural painting. Born in New York, Blashfield studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, then completed his training in Paris at a private atelier from 1867 until 1870. Although Blashfield began as a fairly respected genre painter, he later chose to dedicate his career to mural painting, in which he achieved his greatest success as an artist. From his studio in New York, he fulfilled mural commissions for several state capi- tols and churches, including the Wisconsin State Capitol (1917) in Madison. Located in the dome of the Main Reading Room, Blash- field's Evolution of Civilization features 12 seated, winged, male and female allegorical figures representing specific nations, eras, and religions that are celebrated for their con- tributions to the development of western civilization. ese figures surround a central, seated allegory of Human Understanding and two putti. Beginning with Egypt (fig. 15), this collar mural continues counterclockwise until it concludes with America, represented as the zenith of civi- lization. e painter's arrangement of his figures in a circle is strikingly similar to other artists' circular compositions within domes, especially e Apotheosis of Sainte-Geneviève (fig. 16) (1811–1824) by Antoine-Jean Gros (1771–1835), a pioneering French Neoclassical and Romantic painter, for the dome of the Church of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris. 1 Orig- inally dedicated to Geneviève (419–512), the patron saint of Paris, this Neoclassical building (1755–1790) was later con- verted into the Panthéon, a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens and providing a monumental setting for the painting of murals. While Fig. 13. Sir Joshua Reynolds. Self-portrait, ca. 1747–1749, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London. Fig. 14. Edwin Howland Blashfield. Evolution of Civili- zation, 1895–1896, oil on canvas, Main Reading Room, Library of Congress, omas Jefferson Building. THE CAPITOL DOME

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