The Apotheosis of Democracy, 1908-1916: The Pediment for the House Wing of the United States Capitol (American Arts Series/University of Delaware)

1ST EDITION, hardcover in dust jacket. Published by University of Delaware Press 1995. Illustrated with b/w and color photos. By Thomas P. Somma. Publisher's statement: "The art of Paul Wayland Bartlett (1865-1925) and turn-of-the-century sculpture in general have been attracting increasing attention. A leading American sculptor of international reputation, Bartlett was one of the best-known artists in the United States. Trained in France by such renowned masters as Emmanuel Fremiet and Auguste Rodin, Bartlett was heir to the nineteenth-century French romantic movement. Nevertheless, he remained a distinctly American artist, ever conscious of the role sculpture could play in helping to define the artistic heritage and cultural identity of his native country. Bartlett's sculptural decoration for the House pediment at the U.S. Capitol Building was his most prestigious public monument and one of the most historically important federal commissions to be awarded in the United States during the early twentieth century. Its installation in the long-vacant House pediment finally brought to completion a project of Capitol expansion that had begun more than a half-century earlier."