BRUMIDI’S FRESCOED CANOPY IN THE EYE OF THE DOME
The Dome Canopy as here pictured was photographed from the exact center of the Rotunda, 180 feet below. Unavoidably, the balcony around the Eye of the Dome hides the outer portion of all six allegorical groups. In order to make individual “close-ups” of these groups our photographer went to the top balcony of the Dome at night, carrying his own lighting equipment. His six kodachromes, each made at a distance of 65 feet, the diameter of the Dome at this point, follow:
(S. D. Wyeth’s six-page booklet, printed in 1866, gives the “Description of Brumidi’s Allegorical Painting within the Canopy of the Rotunda.” Since Brumidi finished this canopy in 1865 we may reasonably suppose that Wyeth’s interpretations came directly from the artist. For this reason Wyeth’s own legends are quoted on the following six pages.)
AGRICULTURE
“CERES, the Goddess of Harvests and the Fields, with the Horn of Plenty, is in the center. Young America, with Liberty Cap, of red, the bonnet rouge of France, having under his control a pair of vigorous horses hitched to an American Reaper, in conscious pride is exhibiting his skill. The background is a luxuriant mass of prolific vegetation. Flora is gathering flowers, and, hovering near, is a cherub. Beyond is Pomona with a basket of fruit.”
Wyeth—1866