View of the Capitol

Charles W. Burton

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During his residence in America (ca. 1819-1842) Burton established a reputation as a draftsman of diminutive ink and watercolor drawings that were designed for publication as engravings. This watercolor was made the same year in which the original U.S. Capitol building was finally declared finished. Burton’s drawing style is distinguished by its precision and by the small size of the figures in relation to their surroundings. His careful rendering of the building facade and the dome are convincing, but his grasp of perspective was limited. Here, for example, Burton relied on diminishing rows of poplar trees to convey a sense of recession up the avenue toward the Capitol, but the figures moving along the paths are not scaled with the same consistency. Nonetheless, the overall effect is charming.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art