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Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (mural study, U.S. Capitol)

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  • Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (mural study, U.S. Capitol), 1861, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Sara Carr Upton, 1931.6.1

Gallery Label
Leutze's mural study for the Capitol in Washington celebrated the idea of Manifest Destiny just when the Civil War threatened the republic. The surging crowd of figures records the births, deaths, and battles fought as European Americans settled the continent to the edge of the Pacific. Like Moses and the Israelites who appear in the ornate borders of the painting, these pioneers stand at the threshold of the Promised Land, ready to fulfill what many nineteenth-century Americans believed was God's plan for the nation.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

Title
Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (mural study, U.S. Capitol)
Artist
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Date
1861
On View
  1. Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. 2nd Floor
  3. East Wing
Dimensions
33 1/4 x 43 3/8 in. (84.5 x 110.1 cm.)
Copyright
Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Bequest of Sara Carr Upton

Mediums
oil
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Painting
Keywords
  • Figure group – male
  • Ethnic – Indian
  • History – United States – westward expansion
  • Study – mural study
  • Travel – land – stagecoach
  • Allegory – other – civilization
Object Number
1931.6.1
Palette
Research Notes
Linked Open Data URI

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