Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way

E86631

Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way is a large 19th-century mural by Emanuel Leutze that romantically depicts American westward expansion and Manifest Destiny.

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Statements (43)

Predicate Object
instanceOf mural
painting
appliesToJurisdiction United States of America
basedOn idea of Manifest Destiny
commissionedBy United States Congress
copyrightStatus public domain
countryOfOrigin United States of America
creator Emanuel Leutze
depicts American westward expansion
United States territorial expansion
surface form: Manifest Destiny

idealized vision of progress
migration toward the Pacific coast
rugged terrain of the American West
settlers traveling westward
sunlit western horizon
describedBySource United States Capitol art catalog
art history scholarship
genre history painting
hasEffect promoted the ideology of Manifest Destiny
hasPart Native American figures
Pacific Ocean
allegorical figures
covered wagons
mountain landscape
pioneer settlers
hasQuality allegorical composition
nationalistic tone
romanticized portrayal of expansion
inception 1861
inspiredBy American frontier
westward migration
languageOfWorkOrName English
locatedInTheAdministrativeTerritorialEntity District of Columbia
location United States Capitol
Washington, D.C.
mainSubject expansion of the United States
westward movement of American settlers
materialUsed oil paint
movement Romanticism
partOf art collection of the United States Capitol
positionHeld decoration of the U.S. Capitol building
significantEvent completion shortly before the American Civil War
titleComesFrom line from Bishop George Berkeley’s poem "Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America"

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Emanuel Leutze notableWork Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way