Hispanic Culture in Art

This painting depicts Christopher Columbus and members of his crew on a beach in the West Indies, newly landed from his flagship Santa Maria on October 12, 1492. The island landing was the first landfall of their expedition to find a westward route from Europe to China, Japan and perhaps unknown lands. American neoclassicist painter John Vanderlyn (1775-1852) was commissioned by Congress in June 1836 to paint the Landing of Columbus for the Capitol Rotunda. It was installed in the Rotunda by early January 1847.

The Spanish conqueror of Peru, Francisco Pizarro, leading his horse, pushes through the jungle searching for El Dorado, the mythical land of gold. Pizarro eventually captured the Inca capital, Cuzco. (1533)

A gun crew prepares to fire a Naval gun in one of the two great naval battles of the Spanish-American War. In the course of helping Cuba win independence from Spain the United States became prominent in world affairs by acquiring a colonial empire (Puerto Rico and Guam) and establishing naval prominence in both oceans. (1898)

Alfonso X, the "Wise" (1221-1284) King of Le'acute and Castile. Author of the Royal Code, a compilation of local legislation for general use. Originator of The Seven Parts, the code used as a basis for Spanish jurisprudence.

William Henry Powell's dramatic and brilliantly colored canvas was the last of the eight large historical paintings in the Rotunda commissioned by the Congress. It shows Spanish conquistador and explorer Hernando De Soto (1500–1542), riding a white horse and dressed in Renaissance finery, arriving at the Mississippi River at a point below Natchez on May 8, 1541. De Soto was the first European documented to have seen the river.

The Spaniard Hernando Cortez, conqueror of Mexico, enters the Aztec temple in 1519. He is welcomed by Emperor Montezuma II, who thought Cortez was a god. The calendar stone and idols are based on sketches that artist Constantino Brumidi made in Mexico City. (1520)

General Winfield Scott is shown during the Mexican War, entering the capital. Peace came in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which fixed the Mexican-American border at the Rio Grande River and recognized the accession of Texas. The treaty also extended the boundaries of the United States to the Pacific. (1847)

This statue of Father Junipero Serra was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by California in 1931.

This statue of Father Damien was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Hawaii in 1969. 

Christopher Columbus disembarks from the Santa Maria on a plank, greeted by Native Americans. This is the first of four scenes of Spanish conquest. Brumidi's central figure seems to have been inspired by a statue of Columbus by Luigi Persico, which was then at the east central steps of the Capitol. (1492)

Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto died of a fever while searching for gold in Florida and the territory north of the Gulf of Mexico. To protect his body from enemies, his men buried him at night in the Mississippi River, which he had been the first European to discover. (1542)

This statue of Dennis Chavez was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by New Mexico in 1966.

Designed by American sculptor Randolph Rogers, each scene depicting the life of Christopher Columbus is finely modeled. The doors were installed in 1863 and moved to their present location in 1961 following the extension of the East Front of the Capitol.

The bronze doors are curved, with a semicircular tympanum above two valves that are divided into four panels each. Techniques of Renaissance perspective and different levels of relief give each scene a sense of depth.