Salewski depicted a very famous object from Connecticut’s history. In 1687, the Colony’s Royal Charter, which was a liberal document granting many freedoms to colonists, was hidden in an oak tree in Hartford by one Captain Joseph Wadsworth. This action was taken in order to prevent the document’s being taken by representatives of the British Crown. Treated in high relief, the tree fills the essentially triangular shape of the tympanum. The large branches of the old tree have clumps of leaves massed upon them. The crack in the trunk of the oak, into which the precious document was placed, is centrally-placed in this depiction in order that its importance not be lost on the spectator.
State Capitol, East Facade, central tympanum
This Artwork
Nearby Work
- Capitol Sculpture, East Facade: Portrait Roundel of Reverend Horace Bushnell0MI / S
- Capitol Sculpture, East Facade: The Reverend Thomas Hooker Leading the First White Settlers to Hartford0MI / NW
- Capitol Sculpture, East Facade: The Reverend John Davenport Preaching to the Puritan Settlers of New Haven0MI / NE
- Capitol Sculpture, East Facade: Roger Sherman0MI / NW
- Capitol Sculpture, East Facade: Revolutionary War and the Founding of the Republic0MI / NW
- Capitol Sculpture, East Facade: Jonathan Trumbull0MI / NE