What Ever Happened to the U.S. Congress’s Portraits of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette?

Retracing the Events That Led to the Conflagration of the Capitol and the Loss of the Pictures on 24-25 August 1814, Transactions, American Philosophical Society (Vol. 110, Part 5)

T. Lawrence Larkin

• Publisher: The American Philosophical Society Press
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9781606181102
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

A great unsolved mystery in American political culture is what became of the U.S. Congress's state portraits of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette during the British invasion of the Capitol, Wash., D.C., on the night of 24-25 August 1814. These were official full length images of the French monarchs arrayed in ceremonial magnificence. The fate of the royal portraits has been difficult to determine. Larkin undertakes a comprehensive examination to test two theories -- that the royal portraits were burned by British troops during their occupation of the capital or looted by American scavengers during the chaotic aftermath. He breaks new ground for the creating of an art and material history for the War of 1812. Illus.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction
• Royal Portraits in North America and the West Indies
• Origins of the War of 1812
• Theft and Conflagration in the North American Theater of Military Operations
• To Attack, to Defend Washington, D.C.
• Evacuation and Invasion of the Capitol
• What the Ambassador Heard, What the Justice of the Peace Saw
• Whether to Seek, to Replace, or to Forget
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index