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Art & History

Constantino Brumidi’s fresco of the British Surrender at Yorktown

October 17, 1781

On this date, General George Washington accepted Lord Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown, marking the penultimate battle of the Revolutionary War. An 1857 fresco by Constantino Brumidi depicting this event currently hangs in the House Members' Dining Room.  The work shows Washington in his headquarters at Yorktown, receiving a letter through Cornwallis’s emissary.  The formal British surrender ceremony occurred on October 19, 1781.  While the historic event was an unqualified success, this painting was not. Originally located in the House Chamber, the fresco, along with fashionable Victorian look of the newly-opened chamber, were not appreciated by all. Harper’s Weekly reported that some critics had proclaimed the décor of the chamber “profuse and gaudy.”  An anonymous letter to the supervising architect proclaimed that the fresco was “inappropriate and the execution execrable.” The fresco remained in place until the 1947 remodeling of the House Chamber, when the painted layers of plaster were carefully separated from the structural wall, and the fresco was lowered by a crane outside the Capitol, and installed where it remains today.

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Cite this Highlight

Office of History and Preservation, Office of the Clerk, http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/highlights.html?action=view&intID=40, (December 14, 2010).

For Additional Information

Office of History and Preservation
(202) 226-1300
history@mail.house.gov

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Now hanging in the Members’ Dining Room, the 1857 fresco by Constantino Brumidi originally hung in the House Chamber. Cornwallis Sues for Cessation of Hostilities, 1857 Fresco, Constantino Brumidi, Image courtesy of Architect of the Capitol

Teaching Tip

War and Peace
Have students locate two highlight dates pertaining to either a war or military conflict. Compare and contrast the two entries and briefly discuss the role the House played in either American intervention or in a peaceful resolution.

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