If the Supreme Court strikes down healthcare reform next spring, a certain painting on the third floor of the Capitol might need some extra protection from attacks by angry Democratic lawmakers.
The painting is of John Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835. While Marshall was the fourth chief justice, he was the first to elevate the court to its modern status. His decision in the famous case Marbury v. Madison established the court’s power of judicial review, which allows it to strike down laws that it finds unconstitutional — a category that could include the 2010 healthcare reform measure.
{mosads}Even though Marshall pioneered the ability to void the laws Congress passes, Congress honors Marshall with an imposing portrait greeting anyone that ascends the West Grand Staircase on the House side.
Congress specially commissioned the portrait from artist Richard Brooke, who was the art instructor at the Virginia Military Institute, and it arrived at the Capitol in 1881.
Marshall himself was a member of the House from 1799 to 1800, but that is no explanation for Congress commissioning the portrait, because he is depicted wearing the black robe of a justice.
“Part of the connection has to do with lawgiving and the idea that Congress makes the law that the Supreme Court interprets,” House Curator Farar Elliott said.
Marshall is clearly meant to be exalted. The portrait itself is on a grand scale, at approximately 12 1/2 feet tall and seven feet wide. Marshall is also elevated within the painting, as his chair is set upon red-carpeted steps.
“It draws on the notion of a royal portrait,” Elliott said.
At the same time, Marshall’s plain judicial robe and the books and papers surrounding him in the portrait show that his job is more important to him than luxury.
“We know he’s important, but he’s a working man,” Elliot said. “A portrait of Napoleon might show him being crowned emperor.”
Marshall is not the only non-
congressional lawgiver to be honored in the Capitol, though. A 1950 revamping of the House Chamber added a circle of reliefs of historical figures associated with the law around the chamber walls. They include Moses and the Babylonian king Hammurabi.
Congress seemed to have a particular obsession with Marshall in the 1880s, when it also unveiled a giant statue of him by William Wetmore Story on the Capitol’s west lawn in 1884. It portrays him seated majestically and wearing his robe. In 1981 the statue was moved to perhaps a more fitting location, the first floor of the Supreme Court building, where it still stands.
The top of the grand staircase is a prominent place of honor for the portrait, but the location also exposes the work of art to wear because of the constant procession of groups trudging to and from the House galleries.
The painting was recently conserved, a process that involved re-gilding the frame where backpacks had bumped into it and even removing wads of gum that irreverent passers-by had stuck under the frame, Elliott said. The portrait is now enclosed by a protective wooden barrier.
Art: Painting of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall
Location: The House’s West Grand Staircase