But it's precisely the magnificence that makes the building hard to draw: the Capitol consists of four main parts, a central section (the original building, completed c. 1830), a north wing, a south wing, and a gigantic dome. To show all these parts in one image, and to recreate an historical scene, is very hard. There's no place where a photographer might stand to get it all in. To overcome this problem I photographed each element of the building separately and then knitted the photos together in a way that seemed about right, although I probably broke some fundamental rules of perspective in the process.

I chose to animate the picture by presenting the inaguration of William McKinley. I show him taking the oath of office on the steps of the Capitol's east front on the cold and rainy day, March 4, 1901. Theodore Roosevelt stood next to him. The event was pretty well documented by at least one good photo, which I downloaded from the Library of Congress's website.

The crowd that witnessed the inaguration was very large: many people (all men it would seem) were jammed together before the covered platform from which McKinley and other notables spoke. It would appear that there was no fear of violence or assasination. There was, rather, an amazing trust and faith in the benevolence of the political order. It was precisely the sense of benevolence that I tried to convey in the picture. Some of the figures in the forground are dressed in the styles of the day, which were very intricate and opulent in some cases. Wealth and priviledge were not ashamed to show themselves. But there was poverty also: the newboys, for example, might have been orphans. But it would seem that no one was complaining or begrudging another person his superior status.

In the course of making the picture I read a bit about the history of the Capitol. In 1850 it became evident that the existing building required enlargement to accomodate the congressmen from newly admitted states. The alteration of the building might have been accomplished, I suppose, in a very modest way, but the Congress decided instead to build two huge new wings and a central dome. I've not researched the matter, but it would seem likely that the grand plan was adopted as a way of cementing the Compromise of 1850. That agreement between the Northern and Southern states was an attempt to bury the problem of slavery and to prevent civil war. My teacher, Norris K. Smith, proposed as a general rule that architectual monuments are the result of political crises: here would seem to be a case in point.

When I visited the Capitol in preparation for this work I noted that although the building is well preserved and kept in very good shape, the area that was filled with spectators back in 1901 is now a parking lot. The shiny SUV's of our congressmen seem to be a rather supercilious presence, and I wished them gone. The area was designed as a ceremonial space, rather like a church. The cars are reminders that while the space remains, the piety has vanished.