Art and Artifacts
The art and artifacts related to the Members’ Dining Room—both a busy restaurant and a historic space in the Capitol—run the gamut from personal souvenirs and dishware to large-scale works of art. Viewed together, these objects help us understand the grand as well as the quotidian aspects of the room’s institutional history.
About this object The mirror was initially ordered as part of the Victorian furnishings of the Speaker's Office in 1858.
The Bennett Room Mirror
About this object Several Committee chairs and widely-recognized staff appear in Fortune magazine's 1932 illustration of the Members' Dining Room.
Ebulliently decorated in the rococo revival style of the mid-19th century, the formidable gilded mirror frame is crowned with a dense tangle of carved acanthus leaves, exotic flowers, and grapevines, all surrounding a shield with stars and stripes topped with a bald eagle. Axe-headed fasces form the vertical sides of the frame. The mirror rests on a marble-topped console table, with similarly dense gilded botanical decoration, terminating in hefty claw feet.
A cheeky 1932 cartoon from Fortune magazine illustrating the Members' Dining Room remarked that the mirror, "in spite of its fasces, is pre-Mussolini," a comment on the extensive changes in visual symbolic vocabulary which had taken place between the Victorian era and the inter-war years in the U.S. Once a common symbol of unity and authority, modern times had freighted the Roman symbol with new baggage.
Brumidi's Fresco in the Dining Room
One of the most remarkable features of the main dining room is Constantino Brumidi’s 1857 fresco painting, Cornwallis Sues for Cessation of Hostilities, which depicts George Washington during this decisive point in the Revolutionary War. Brumidi painted many frescoes throughout the Capitol, but this work—initially painted on a wall in the House Chamber in 1857—had an unusual journey to its current home.
About this object The tale of the fresco's journey appeared in the Members' Dining Room menus after it arrived in 1972.
In 1972, funds were appropriated for the delicate operation of removing the fresco and relocating it to a more hospitable space. Separating the one-inch layer of century-old plaster on which the fresco was painted from the brick wall behind it was a tricky task, but was completed with minimal damage. Once successfully detached and reinforced, the plaster slab was lowered by crane one floor outside the building, down the steps of the Capitol, and re-installed in the Members’ Dining Room, where it can be seen today. This new location was chosen at the request of several Congressmen, who felt that the fresco deserved more exposure. It is now a much-admired feature of the Members’ Dining Room.
Dining with Fine China
About this object Durable yet attractive custom dishware appeared in the Capitol in the 20th century.
Menus as Memorabilia
About this object Rep. Kika de la Garza of Texas dined with Mr. and Mrs. Al Hunt in April of 1978, signing this menu "as a remembrance of their visit to the Capitol - with best wishes and appreciation."
About this object This menu bears the simple inscription "ate here on Feb. 7, 1933," and displays the different offerings of the time, including spiced watermelon relish, and a variety of clams and oysters.