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Summary
DescriptionUS Capitol 1814c.jpg
English: "Drawing shows the ruins of the U.S. Capitol following British attempts to burn the building; includes fire damage to the Senate and House wings, damaged colonnade in the House of Representatives shored up with firewood to prevent its collapse, and the shell of the rotunda with the facade and roof missing." "1 drawing on paper : ink and watercolor" "Historical context: George Munger's drawing, one of the most significant and compelling images of the early republic, reminds us how short-lived the history of the United States might have been. In the evening hours of August 24, 1814, during the second year of the War of 1812, British expeditionary forces under the command of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cockburn and Major General Robert Ross set fire to the unfinished Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. All the public buildings in the developing city, except the Patent Office Building, were put to the torch in retaliation for what the British perceived as excessive destruction by American forces the year before in York, capital of upper Canada. At the time of the British invasion, the unfinished Capitol building comprised two wings connected by a wooden causeway. This exceptional drawing, having descended in the Munger family, was purchased by the Library of Congress at the same time the White House purchased the companion view of 'The President's House.'"
Restored version of File:US Capitol 1814.jpg. Cropped. Dirt and stains removed. Creases, uneven fade, and depigmentation corrected. Extensive color corrections. Histogram adjusted. See also File:US Capitol 1814c.tif (uncompressed restoration).
This is a featured picture on Wikimedia Commons (Featured pictures) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here. With an aspect ratio of 8:5, 16:10, or 16:9, this image is suitable as a widescreencomputer wallpaper (see gallery). This is a featured picture on the English language Wikipedia (Featured pictures) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here.
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
The author died in 1825, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain". This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.
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Die Zeichnung zeigt die Ruinen des US-Kapitols nach britischen Versuchen, das Gebäude zu verbrennen. 1814 von Munger George
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