John Vanderlyn, Landing of Columbus (1847)
Landing of Columbus
John Vanderlyn
In 1836, Congress commissioned American neoclassicist painter John Vanderlyn (1775–1852) to paint the Landing of Columbus for the Capitol rotunda, where it was installed in 1847. The painting depicts Christopher Columbus and members of his crew, newly landed from his flagship Santa Maria, on a beach in the West Indies on October 12, 1492.
John Vanderlyn, Landing of Columbus, 1847, oil on canvas, 12’ × 18’ U.S. Capitol rotunda, Washington, D.C.
Architect of the Capitol