Westward Movement

Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (mural study, U.S. Capitol)
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (1816 - 1868)

"This dramatic image of westward expansion is a study for a mural in the United States Capitol, one of the most ambitious statements of cultural nationalism during the mid-nineteenth century. Leutze combined pioneer men and women, mountain guides, wagons, and mules to suggest a divinely ordained pilgrimage to the Promised Land of the western frontier. In the border, medallion portraits of explorers Captain William Clark and Daniel Boone flank a vista of the San Francisco Bay -- the ultimate western destination. Above, a bald eagle holds a scroll on which is lettered Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way -- while Native Americans escape in a maze of winding plant tendrils."