Topping the Dome: Art and Politics Clash During the Construction of the Capitol Dome

Based on actual events during the politically tense period leading up to the American Civil War. It tells the tragic true story of the sculptor Thomas Crawford chosen to create the iconic image, Statue of Freedom, crowning the Capitol Dome in Washington, DC. His life as a sculptor in Rome intermingles with some of the most interesting personages of the era—the great abolitionist Senator from Massachusetts Charles Sumner, Clark Mills a self-taught sculptor and Washington insider, and Captain Montgomery C. Meigs construction supervisor of the of extension of the capitol and its new dome. The story moves back and forth between Crawford's studio in the ancient capital of Italy, Rome, and the new capital of America, Washington, DC. Well researched.