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tive scheme of the room. The rectangular room planned to house the Naval Affairs Committee is located in the northwest area of the Senate wing; it was accessible both from the wide North Corridor and from the West Corri- dor. Brumidi's painting scheme responded to the layout of the room with its four doorways: two in the south wall from the adjoining room S-128; one on its north wall off the North Corridor; and one on its east wall from the West Corridor (now a window). The ceiling of the rect- angular room was partitioned into two square bays, each subdivided with groin vaults. These groin vaults create four curved, triangular segments whose points join at the center of the bay above each half of the room (figs. 4, 5, and 6). This architectural layout left Brumidi ample wall- and ceiling-space in which to create a mural cycle whose narrative program related to the maritime focus of the room's occupant, the Naval Affairs Committee. 3 On the walls, Brumidi surrounded members of the Naval Affairs Committee with nine blue panels, at the center of which appeared floating maidens, holding contemporary attributes related to the sea and seafaring. Beginning in the southeast corner and proceeding clock- wise around the room, these figures hold a flag (see fig. 2), sextant, pennant, map, compass and telescope, anchor, ship's barometer, fishing line, fish, and net, and, on the eastern wall, pearls (see fig. 1). At least two of these maid- ens hold items that specifically reference their American context: both the f lag and the pennant are red, white, and blue. Brumidi arranged the figures to highlight the doorways leading into the room. On the long south and north walls, these maidens serve as pendants, who face one another and flank the doorways (though the entry on the eastern end of the north wall is a false door). The short west wall contains windows, so there was no wall space for painted panels; however, the opposite east wall had one off-center entrance, and Brumidi took advan- tage of this larger wall space to depict the only group, the floating maiden holding pearls flanked by two fly- ing putti, all facing the doorway. Though the references to the marine realm were relegated to the objects held by the various floating figures, the flat, expansive blue backgrounds of the walls added an appropriate aquatic feel. While it is tempting to interpret this color also as "American blue" added by Brumidi, it is important to note that blue backgrounds, though less common than red, black, and yellow, did occur in Pompeian wall painting already uncovered at the time. 4 Above each pair of flanking panels and their doorways on the north and south walls as well as at the tops of the east and west walls were lunettes (fig. 1). For these, Brumidi designed architectural frames that surrounded rectangular panels, meant to be 4 THE CAPITOL DOME Fig. 4. Diagram of S-127 with narrative scheme of ceiling and walls