Keywords: Great Hall. Detail of putti (gardener with a spade and a rake) on the Grand staircase by Philip Martiny. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. LCCN2007684585.tif 1 photograph digital TIFF file color Notes More information about the Highsmith Collection is available at http //hdl loc gov/loc pnp/pp highsm; Exhibit caption The figures on the staircase are known as putti and represent the various occupations habits and pursuits of contemporary American life at the time when the Jefferson Building was built in the late nineteenth century A putto plural putti is a figure of a pudgy human baby almost always male often naked and having wings found especially in Italian Renaissance art The four bottom figures include A Gardener with spade and rake; An Entomologist with a specimen box slung over his shoulder running to catch a butterfly in his net; A Student with a book in his hand and a mortar board on his head; A Printer with types a press and a type case The four top figures include A Musician with a lyre by his side studying pages of a music book; A Physician grinding drugs in a mortar with a distilling vessel beside him and the serpent sacred to medicine; An Electrician with a star of electric rays shining on his brow and a telephone receiver at his ear; An Astronomer with a telescope and a globe encircled by the signs of the zodiac that he is measuring by the aid of a pair of compasses Source MyLOC gov Great Hall exhibit 2008 ; Title devised by Library staff ; Forms part of the Library of Congress Series in the Carol M Highsmith Archive 2007 Creator Carol M Highsmith Library of Congress Catalog http //lccn loc gov/2007684585 Image download https //cdn loc gov/master/pnp/highsm/01700/01785a tif Original url http //hdl loc gov/loc pnp/highsm 01785 No known restrictions on publication LOC-image highsm 01785 PD-Highsmith Images uploaded by Fæ Photographs by Carol M Highsmith |