Bird’s-Eye View of Washington

Object Details

German publisher Baumgärtner’s Buchandlung produced engraver August Weger’s accomplished view of the Capitol on the eve of the Civil War. To European viewers, the incomplete dome might have been an obvious allusion to America as a work in progress. Other elements reinforce the sense of the United States as a place of raw, unrealized potential. The capital city, with more trees than buildings, stretches out to the Potomac River. On the left, the Capitol's House wing is still under construction. Weger was perhaps also intrigued by American ingenuity, for he includes all the construction apparatus for the Capitol and an aspirational spurt of water from the fountain just beyond and to the right of the dome. The fountain’s maker, Montgomery Meigs, was inordinately proud of bringing water from the Potomac to the Capitol grounds via aqueduct.