[Senate Document 106-25]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



106th Congress, 2d Session                              S. Doc. 106-25


 
 
Art and Historic Objects in the Senate Wing of the Capitol and Senate 
                            Office Buildings

                PREPARED BY THE OFFICE OF SENATE CURATOR

                        PURSUANT TO DIRECTION OF

                     THE SENATE COMMISSION ON ART,

                      UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE

                   SECRETARY OF THE SENATE, EXECUTIVE

                   SECRETARY OF THE COMMISSION ON ART






                             UNITED STATES

                       GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

                               WASHINGTON

                                  2000





                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                           COMMISSION ON ART

            Pursuant to 40 United States Code, Section 188b

                   TRENT LOTT, Mississippi, Chairman

                TOM DASCHLE, South Dakota, Vice Chairman

STROM THURMOND, South Carolina         CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut

MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky

                  GARY SISCO, Secretary of the Senate

          Executive Secretary of the Senate Commission on Art



                                PREFACE

    "The Commission [Senate Commission on Art] is 
hereby authorized and directed to supervise, hold, place, 
protect, and make known all works of art, historical objects, 
and exhibits within the Senate wing of the United States 
Capitol, any Senate Office Buildings, and in all rooms, 
spaces, and corridors thereof, which are the property of the 
United States, and in its judgment to accept any works of art, 
historical objects, or exhibits which may hereafter be 
offered, given, or devised to the Senate, its committees, and 
its officers for placement and exhibition in the Senate wing of 
the Capitol, the Senate Office Buildings, or in rooms, spaces, or 
corridors thereof."
                                           Senate Commission on Art
                                                    40 USC Sec. 188b-1

    Since the Senate Commission on Art was established in 1968, 
it has worked to fulfill its legislative authority to care and 
protect the art and historical objects located in the Senate 
wing of the Capitol and the Senate Office Buildings. The 
majority of these objects were acquired by Congress prior to the 
establishment of the Commissionon Art, with additional pieces 
added over the past thirty-two years by the Commission. Some of 
the oldest and most historically significant objects in the 
Senate include the relief of Justice in the Old Supreme Court 
Chamber, executed in 1817 by Carlo Franzoni; forty-eight Senate 
Chamber desks, acquired in 1819 from New York cabinetmaker 
Thomas Constantine; the marble bust of Chief Justice John Jay, 
executed in 1831 by John Frazee; and the 1832 portrait of George 
Washington by Rembrandt Peale. These, and the hundreds of other 
art and historical objects in the United States Senate, 
chronicle the nation's achievements over the last two 
centuries, and provide visitors today with a greater 
appreciation of our historic past.
    The Senate Commission on Art is required to "publish as a 
Senate document a list of all works of art, historical objects, 
and exhibits currently within the Senate wing of the Capitol 
and the Senate Office Buildings, together with their 
description, location, and with such notes as may be pertinent 
to their history" [40 USC Sec. 188b-3]. This inventory includes 
sculpture, paintings, frescos and other wall and ceiling 
paintings, architectural details of artistic significance, 
decorative arts, engravings, drawings, photographs, 
manuscripts, publications, memorabilia, foreign gifts, and 
reproduction prints. The first section of the document includes 
such relevant information as catalogue number, category, 
description, maker, location, floor, and pertinent historical 
notes. A second section comprises objects currently listed by 
the Commission.
    A number of the items are on loan from other institutions, 
or are within inventories provided by the Senate Sergeant at 
Arms and the Architect of the Capitol's Superintendent of Senate 
Office Buildings, which have traditionally maintained 
inventories of these objects.
    Over the years, the Senate Commission on Art has published 
selective listings of objects in the Senate, including: United 
States Senate Graphic Arts Collection: Illustrated Checklist 
Volume 1; "A necessary fence... " The Senate's First Century; 
Between the Eyes: Thomas Nast & the U.S. Senate; and What This 
Country Needs... The Senate in an Age of Advertising. This 
official publication, however, is the first detailed inventory 
of all art and historic objects in the Senate, and will be the 
basis for all future documentation. The Office of Senate Curator 
has worked extensively over the past few years to identify, 
catalogue, and research these objects, and the office will 
continue to update the inventory as new information is uncovered 
and new objects are acquired.

GARY SISCO
Secretary of the Senate,
Executive Secretary of the
Senate Commission on Art

    
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