Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/216603
Fig. 3. George Washington Greene, by Thomas Crawford, plaster, 1841. president of Harvard, governor of MassachuLONGFELLOW NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE setts, and secretary of state.16 Everett recommended Horatio Greenough, but he had lost interest in Capitol commissions after the unhappy reception of his semi-nude classical statue of George Washington.17 Crawford, on the other hand, welcomed the opportunity to sculpt statuary for the United States Capitol in a realistic American manner. In August 1853, Meigs wrote to Crawford about a sculptural pediment and bronze doors for the east front of the new Senate wing, "I do not see why a Republic so much richer than the Athenian should not rival the Parthenon in the Fig. 4. Charles Sumner, 18 front of its first public edifice." Crawford by Thomas Crawford, responded at the end of October with a ca. 1837-39, marble. compelling design for the pediment as well as MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY the bronze doors for the eastern entrances to the House and Senate wings (figs. 8 a, b, and c).19 Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, in charge of construction of the Capitol Extension between 1853 and 1857, approved the details and secured the appropriation of money for Crawford's work. The sculptor's reputation, his easy and respectful relationship with patrons, and the realism of his American sculptural designs created a successful relationship with Meigs and Davis. While he concentrated on the artistic work for the Capitol, the nation was in turmoil over the adamantly disapproved of the cap, stating "Americans were born slavery issue. Many of his and Louisa's relatives were ardent aboli- free"22 and thus the Capitol should not bear any of the symbols of tionists, and many of his friends, including Charles Sumner, were slavery. Crawford's third and final representation changed from an calling for an end to slavery. Crawford's work went on, though he Athenian figure to a very American figure. As William C. Allen notes in the History of the United was not unaware of the politics surrounding him. Crawford completed the full-size models for the Senate States Capitol, Davis wrote to Meigs, who guided Crawford in pediment group that he entitled Progress of Civilization in the his designs, that "Why should not Armed Liberty wear a spring of 1854 (fig. 8a). As a reflection of the era of Manifest helmet."23 Meigs notified Crawford of Davis's comments. Crawford sent a photograph of his third design with a letter Destiny, it illustrated the establishment of European culture on the North American continent.20 At the center, a female figure symbol- that explained what he had done and why. He dispensed with the izes America; she is flanked by European pioneers and 'vanquished' cap per Davis's wishes, and replaced it with a helmet the crest of American Indians. The pediment was controversial. Debaters in which is composed of "an eagle's head and a bold arrangement of the House and the Senate argued that the Capitol did not need feathers suggested by the costume of our Indian tribes."24 (As a more art.21 It seemed as though everyone, newspaper editors and West Point cadet, Jefferson Davis had drawn Minerva with a congressmen alike, was an art critic. The completed pediment was helmet.) The eagle, a symbol of freedom, appears on the Great Seal installed in 1863. of the United States. A medallion carved with the initials U.S., Crawford's final commission in 1855 was an enormous statue similar to the medallions gifted to the Native American tribes by representing the spirit of America to stand on the pinnacle of the American presidents in the nineteenth century, holds together her Capitol dome. Between May 1855 and January 1856, Crawford inner drapery. Crawford himself stated that he placed it such that sent Meigs and Davis three designs of carved models; the first two "the drapery is so arranged as to indicate rays of light proceeding were rejected. One had a liberty cap. Jefferson Davis, a slave owner, from the letters."25 A sheathed sword rests in her right hand and 18 THE CAPITOL DOME SUMMER 2013