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In one of four steel engravings of the Capitol from the 1839 publication by N.P. Willis, American Scenery, the artist shows the view from a well-populated approach. The accompanying text describes how improved the view of the Capitol is by the presence of “a multitude of people.” Though the Capitol is “one of the finest things” the author had seen, he states that “like the effect of the assembled population of Rome waiting to receive the blessing before St. Peter’s . . . the assembled crowd on the steps to the Capitol heightened inconceivably the grandeur of the design.”
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “View of the Capitol at Washington,” https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2005/2005-218-002/ (February 27, 2021)
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