Page "learned" Paragraph 1046

When Costaggini had used up all the sketches thirty-six feet of empty frieze were left over.

A blank undecorated void, plastered in roughcast, disfigured the wall of the Rotunda until 1951.

Then, advised by the Architect of the Capitol, the Joint Committee for the Library, traditionally responsible for the works of art in the building, ordered the space cleared and painted in fresco, to show `` the Peace after the Civil War '', `` the Spanish-American War '', and `` the Birth of Aviation '', to match as nearly as feasible Brumidi's technique and composition.

Later the cleaning and restoration were ordered, first of the older part of the frieze, finally of the canopy.

What follows is therefore a description of three separate undertakings, the new frescoing of the gap, and the successive essays in conservation, with some discussion of problems that arose in connection with each.