page_title: United States Capitol rotunda
section_title: Frieze of American History
hierarchical_section_title: United States Capitol rotunda / Historical paintings / Frieze of American History
caption_attribution_description: "William Penn and the Indians" - William Penn is shown at center with the Delaware Indians at the time of the Treaty of Shackamaxon. This treaty formalized the purchase of land in Pennsylvania and cemented an amicable relationship between the Quakers and the Indians for almost a hundred years. Penn was the last figure on which Brumidi worked.
context_page_description: The United States Capitol rotunda is the central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., built 1818–24. It is located below the Capitol dome, built 1857–66; the later construction also extended the height of the rotunda walls. It is the tallest part of the Capitol and has been described as its "symbolic and physical heart".
  The rotunda is connected by corridors leading south to the House of Representatives and north to the Senate chambers. To the immediate south is the semi-circular National Statuary Hall, which was the House of Representatives chamber until 1857. To the northeast is the Old Senate Chamber, used by the Senate until 1859 and by the Supreme Court until 1935.
  The rotunda is 96 feet in diameter, rises 48 feet to the top of its original walls and 180 feet 3 inches to the canopy of the dome, and is visited by thousands of people each day. It is also used for ceremonial events authorized by concurrent resolution, including the lying in state of honored dead.
context_section_description: The Frieze of American History is painted to appear as a carved stone bas-relief frieze but is actually a trompe-l'œil fresco cycle depicting 19 scenes from American history. The "frieze" occupies a band immediately below the 36 windows. Brumidi designed the frieze and prepared a sketch in 1859 but did not begin painting until 1878. Brumidi painted seven and a half scenes. While working on William Penn and the Indians, Brumidi fell off the scaffolding and held on to a rail for 15 minutes until he was rescued. He died a few months later in 1880. After Brumidi's death, Filippo Costaggini was commissioned to complete the eight and a half remaining scenes in Brumidi's sketches. He finished in 1889 and left a 31-foot (9 m) gap due to an error in Brumidi's original design. In 1951, Allyn Cox completed the frieze.
  Except for the last three panels named by Allyn Cox, the scenes have no particular titles and many variant titles have been given. The names given here are the names used by the Architect of the Capitol, which uses the names that Brumidi used most frequently in his letters and that were used in Edward Clark and by newspaper articles. The 19 panels are:
caption: William Penn and the Indians
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