The State House Dome

This 1788 sketch by famed artist Charles Willson Peale identifies colors on the State House dome as part of a preliminary plan for a panoramic print. At that time, he was constructing a device for drawing perspective views, and, while living in Annapolis that year, recorded in his diary several trips up into the dome to record the view using his "machine." Peale intended to create a large circular print of Annapolis with the elevation of the State House at its center. There is no evidence to suggest that Peale’s ambitious plan was ever realized.

The current dome of the State House was not painted white until the mid-19th century. Scholars continue to compare Peale’s notations about the colors of the dome in conjunction