The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Edgar Allan Poe [765]
The artist, Segnior Valaperti, was but a short time in America, the most of which he spent in Washington. He was retiring in his habits, and of a melancholy temperament, associating with few persons, and with those but seldom. Soon after the completion of this chef d'oeuvre he disappeared, in a mysterious manner, and has never been heard of since. About a month after his disappearance a body was found in the Potomac, which was thought from certain resemblances, to be his, (though this was never satisfactorily ascertained,) and hence it has been conjectured that in a fit of melancholy, he threw himself into the river, and thus put an end to his unhappy life. Such has often been the melancholy fate of genius.
In front of the chair, and immediately over the entrance., stands a beautiful statue in marble representing History, recording the events of the nation. She is placed on a winged car, which is in the act of rolling over the globe, in which is figured, in basso relievo, the signs of the Zodiac, and the wheel of the car is the face of the clock of the hall, finely designed and beautifully executed. The whole was done by Signior Franzoni, another meritorious Italian artist, who also died in this city. Between the columns is suspended fringed drapery of crimsoned marines, festooned near the gallery, to limit the sound and assist the hearing. A magnificent portrait of Lafayette, at full length, painted by a French artist, and a most admirable likeness of that patriot, decorates a panel on one side the loggia, and indicated to the legislative body to whom it has been presented, that the corresponding panel on the opposite side could not be more appropriately filled than by the portrait of him who achieved the liberties and secured the independence of his country. Between the columns at their base, are placed sofas for the accommodation of those who are privileged to enter the hall, and within the bar, in a semi-circle fronting the speaker's chair, are seated the members of the house, each of whom is furnished with a mahogany desk, armed chair and writing materials.
The Senate Chamber in the north wing is of the same semi-circular form — seventy-five feet in its greatest length and forty-five high — a screen of Ionic columns, with capitals, after those of the temple of Minerva Polias, support a gallery to the east, and form a loggia below — and a new gallery of iron pillars and railings of a light and elegant structure, projects from the circular walls — the dome ceiling is enriched with square caissons of Stucco.
The walls are covered with straw colored drapery, between small pilasters of marble in the wall. Columns of breccia or Potomac marble, support the eastern gallery.
The upper gallery on the east side was removed in 1828, and a light, airy, and beautiful one as mentioned above, erected along the semicircle fronting the President's chair, supported on small iron columns, handsomely bronzed, with a railing in front, of the same material and color. The removal of the dark and heavy mass of stone which formed the upper gallery has thrown into the chamber a proper degree of light, which it wanted before; and the new and tasteful gallery renders it more convenient to the members, by accommodating those who would otherwise be on the floor. The access, to it, however, is somewhat objectionable, as are most of the stair-cases in the building. They are rather confined and dark, for so spacious and magnificent an edifice as the Capitol. A stair-case is susceptible of great architectural beauty; and in the construction of such a building the opportunity to display that beauty should not have been neglected.
The Rotundo occupied the centre, and is ninety-six feet in diameter, and ninety-six high. This is the principal entrance from the east portico and west stair, and leads to the legislative halls