<em><strong>Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way</strong></em>
<strong>Westward expansion, Manifest Destiny</strong>
<strong>Emanuel Leutze’s mural celebrates the western expansion of the United States. A group of pioneers and their train of covered wagons are pictured at the continental divide, looking towards the sunset and the Pacific Ocean. The border depicts vignettes of exploration and frontier mythology. Beneath the central composition is a panoramic view of their destination “Golden Gate,” in San Francisco Bay. The mural’s title is a verse from the poem “On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America” by Bishop George Berkeley (1685–1753).</strong>
<strong>Emanuel Leutze</strong>
<p><strong>United States Capitol, Washington D.C. </strong></p>
<p><strong>Architect of the Capitol </strong></p>
<p><strong>http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/other-paintings-and-murals/westward-course-empire-takes-its-way</strong></p>
<strong>July 1861 to November 1862</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<strong>20'-by-30'-foot mural using a German technique called stereochromy, in which pigments are applied to plaster and sealed with waterglass, a silica solution that preserves and enhances the colors.</strong>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still Image</strong>
<em><strong><span class="field-content">Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap</span></strong></em>
<strong>Westward expansion</strong>
<p><strong><span class="field-content">This is a popular American painting addressing the theme of westward expansion. Rich with symbolism, it helped establish the mythic status of Daniel Boone and legends of western settlement. <strong></strong></span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span class="field-content"><strong><span class="field-content">George Caleb </span></strong>Bingham drew from Christian and classical imagery to justify and heroicize westward expansion and the ideal of Manifest Destiny, or the providential mission of the American nation to settle the frontier. </span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span class="field-content">Referring to Boone's first journeys into Kentucky in the early 1770s, the group is pictured traveling from east to west, dramatically emerging from the sun-filled landscape in the background and crossing into the dark, foreboding landscape in the foreground, where the snarled trees help signify the dangerous power of nature.</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span class="field-content">Portrayed with idealized features and poses, the intrepid Daniel Boone, a rifle resting on his shoulder, suggests the figure of Moses - an archetype for pioneer patriarchs - leading his people toward the Promised Land, while Rebecca Boone, atop the horse, suggests the Virgin Mary, symbolizing the courageous spirit of pioneer women.</span></strong></p>
<strong><span class="field-content"><strong><span class="field-content">George Caleb </span></strong>Bingham</span></strong>
<p><strong>Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum</strong></p>
<p><strong>Washington University in St. Louis</strong></p>
<p><strong>http://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/collection/explore/artwork/193</strong></p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<strong>1851-1852</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<div class="views-field-obj-material-s"><strong><span class="field-content">Oil on canvas</span></strong></div>
<div class="views-field-obj-crate-s"><strong><span class="field-content">36 1/2" x 50 1/4 "</span></strong></div>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still Image</strong>
<em><strong>Emigrants Crossing the Plains</strong></em>
<strong>Westward expansion, Manifest Destiny</strong>
<p><strong>Redefined by territorial expansion in the mid-1800s, the boundary of the American West shifted from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, fueled largely by exploration and emigration along the Oregon Trail, among others. </strong></p>
<p><strong>Over the course of fifty years, almost 400,000 people traveled the 2,170-mile route, leaving their farms along the East Coast in hopes of securing fertile land in the Oregon Territory. </strong></p>
<p><strong>American artist Albert Bierstadt documented his journey on the trail, capturing the dramatic panoramas and indomitable spirit of the emigrants on his oversized canvases. With their rich colors and pristine details, these romanticized images roused an already fascinated American public to begin their own westward adventure.</strong></p>
<strong>Albert Bierstadt</strong>
<strong>National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum</strong><br /><strong> Oklahoma City, OK</strong>
<strong>November 27, 1867</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<p><strong>Oil on canvas </strong></p>
<p><strong>67" x 102"</strong></p>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still Image</strong>
<em><strong>American Progress</strong></em>
<strong>Weatward expansion, Manifest Destiny</strong>
<p><strong>This painting is an allegorical representation of the modernization of the new west. Here Columbia, a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she sweeps west; she holds a school book as well. The different stages of economic activity of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation.</strong></p>
<p><strong>This painting has come to represent the ideal of Manifest Destiny.<br /></strong></p>
<strong>John Gast</strong>
<p>Museum of the American West</p>
<p>Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA</p>
<strong>1872</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<p><strong>Oil painting</strong></p>
<p><strong>12 ¾” x 16 ¾”</strong></p>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still Image</strong>
<em><strong>Daniel Boone protects his family</strong></em>
<strong>Westward expansion and the frontier</strong>
<strong>Daniel Boone fighting with a Native, as his wife cowers over their son on the left.</strong>
<strong>Henry H. Schile</strong>
<p><strong> Library of Congress </strong></p>
<p><strong>Prints and Photographs Division </strong></p>
<p><span><strong>Washington, D.C.</strong> </span></p>
<strong>1874</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<strong>Colored lithograph</strong>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still image</strong>
<em><strong>Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto</strong></em>
<strong>European exploration of America</strong>
<p><strong>This dramatic and brilliantly colored canvas shows Spanish conqueror and explorer Hernando DeSoto, riding a white horse, the first European to view the Mississippi River, in 1541. </strong></p>
<p><strong>As De Soto and his troops approach, the Native Americans in front of their tepees watch, and a chief holds out a peace pipe. In the foreground is a jumble of weapons and soldiers, suggesting the attack they had suffered shortly before. To the right, a monk prays as a crucifix is set in the ground.</strong></p>
<strong>William Henry Powell</strong>
<p><strong>United States Capitol, Washington D.C. </strong></p>
<p><strong>Architect of the Capitol</strong></p>
<p><strong>http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/historic-rotunda-paintings/discovery-mississippi-by-de-soto</strong></p>
<strong>1853</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<p><strong>Oil painting on canvas </strong></p>
<p><strong>365.76 cm by 548.64 cm (144.00 in by 216.00 in)</strong></p>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still Image</strong>
<em><strong>Boone's First View of Kentucky</strong></em>
<strong>Westward expansion, Manifest Destiny</strong>
<p><strong><strong></strong>Daniel Boone is pointing out toward the west, and the future state of Kentucky.</strong></p>
<strong>William Ranney</strong>
<p><strong>Indianapolis Museum of Art</strong></p>
<p><strong>Indianapolis, Indiana</strong></p>
<strong>1849</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<div class="value"><strong>Etching</strong></div>
<div class="mercury-mdd mdd-dimensions"><br /><div class="value"><strong>5 1/2 x 7 7/8 in. (image) </strong></div>
<div class="value"><strong>8 1/2 x 11 in. (sheet)</strong></div>
</div>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still image</strong>
<strong><strong></strong></strong><strong><em>The Promised Land-The Grayson Family</em></strong>
<strong>Westward expansion, Manifest Destiny</strong>
<p><strong>The people shown are the Graysons, and they were part of the great westward expansion of the United States during the mid-1800s.The Graysons traveled overland from Missouri to California in 1846, two years ahead of the Gold Rush that drew so many more fortune seekers to California. </strong></p>
<p><strong>Mr. Grayson became very wealthy in the West and commissioned this painting to tell his family’s story. He gave specific instructions to the artist, William Jewett, about the clothing, the setting, and other details in the portrait. <br /></strong></p>
<strong><strong>William Jewett</strong></strong>
<p><strong>Terra Foundation for American Art</strong></p>
<p><strong>Daniel J. Terra Collection</strong></p>
<p><strong>Chicago, Illinois</strong></p>
<div> </div>
<strong>1850</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<p><strong>Oil on canvas</strong></p>
<p><strong>50 3/4" by 64"</strong></p>
<div> </div>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still Image</strong>
<em><strong><span class="fn">Coming of the White Man</span></strong></em>
<strong>First European contact with Native Americans</strong>
<strong>A group of Native Americans view a ship with its sails for the first time.</strong>
<strong>Joshua Shaw</strong>
<p><strong>The Elizabeth Waldo-Dentzel Collection</strong></p>
<p><strong>Elizabeth Waldo-Dentzel Studio<br /></strong></p>
<p><strong><span class="locality">Northridge, California</span></strong></p>
<strong>1850</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<p><strong>Oil on canvas</strong></p>
<p><strong>25.25 × 36.375 in (64.1 × 92.4 cm)</strong></p>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still Image</strong>
<em><strong>Westward the Star of Empire Takes its Way</strong></em>
<strong>Westward expansion, Manifest Destiny</strong>
<strong>The railroad disrupts nature and bears down on the viewer, with the locomotive's light shining like a jewel. Wild deer scatter to the left, but the cleared field offers no refuge--the stumps, that catch the light of the west-setting sun, and the still sunlit cabin, are a sign of progress.</strong>
<strong>Andrew W. Melrose</strong>
<p><strong>Museum of the American West</strong></p>
<p><strong>Los Angeles, CA </strong></p>
<strong>1867</strong>
<strong>Public Domain</strong>
<p><strong>Oil on canvas</strong></p>
<p><br /><strong> Height: 64.8 cm (25.51 in.)</strong></p>
<p><strong> Width: 116.8 cm (45.98 in.)</strong></p>
<strong>English</strong>
<strong>Still Image</strong>