The Great Hall North Side 

Floor

The marble floor of the Great Hall contains a number of modeled and incised brass inlays. The center represents the Sun, on which are noted the four cardinal points of the compass, indicating the main axes of the building. A decorative scale pattern encloses the Sun with alternate sections of red and yellow Italian marble, the former from Verona and the latter from Sienna.

Twelve squares at the perimeter of the floor of the Great Hall represent the signs of the zodiac. The other squares form two patterns of rosettes. They are embedded in blocks of dark red, richly mottled French marble, with borders of pure white Italian marble.

Proceeding clockwise from top left, the zodiac signs are Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, and Virgo.

Thomas Jefferson Bust

The plaster bust of Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) is a copy of a work by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828).

Celebration of American Contributions to Science

The importance of America’s contributions to science and, in particular, Benjamin Franklin (1705–1790) as the discoverer of electricity, is celebrated throughout the Jefferson Building. When the building was completed in 1897, the United States was eager to celebrate many American inventions made practicable by scientific advances relating to electricity. These include the telegraph, the telephone, electrical motors and lighting devices, and the elevator. Throughout the building the bare light bulbs with visible filaments celebrate this American invention and point to its importance to the building.

Putti - Gardener to Printer

The figures of little boys on the staircase are known as “putti” in Italian Renaissance art and represent the various occupations and pursuits of contemporary American life when the Jefferson Building was completed in 1897.

• A gardener, with spade and rake.

• An entomologist, with an insect specimen box slung over his shoulder, running to catch a butterfly with his net.

• A student, with a book in his hand and a mortarboard on his head.

• A printer, with type, a press, and a type case.

Asia and Europe

• Asia is represented by a Mongolian figure, dressed in flowing silk robes, the folds of which are delicately rendered in marble. In the background is a dragon-shaped porcelain jar.

• Europe is represented with a lyre, book and Ionic column―the three objects symbolizing Music, Literature, and Architecture.

Putti - Musician to Astronomer

The figures of little boys on the staircase are known as “putti” in Italian Renaissance art and represent the various occupations and pursuits of contemporary American life when the Jefferson Building was completed in 1897.

• A musician, with a lyre by his side, studying the pages of a musical composition.

• A physician grinding drugs in a mortar, with a distilling vessel beside him and the serpent sacred to medicine.

• An electrician, with a burst of electric rays shining on his brow and a telephone receiver at his ear.

• An astronomer, with a telescope and a terrestrial globe, encircled by the signs of the zodiac that he is measuring by the aid of a pair of compasses.

Fine Arts

The putti represent the arts of painting, architecture, and sculpture. Painting holds a palette, Architecture, with a Greek temple behind him, grasps a compass and scrolled plan, and Sculpture models a statue.

Paintings of Wisdom, Understanding,
Knowledge, and Philosophy

The names and quotes in the Great Hall were chosen by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1825–1908) and Charles Elliot (1834–1926), president of Harvard University.

KNOWLEDGE COMES, BUT WISDOM LINGERS
Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892), Locksley Hall (1842)

WISDOM IS THE PRINCIPAL THING; THEREFORE GET WISDOM;
AND WITH ALL THY GETTING, GET UNDERSTANDING
Proverbs 4:7

IGNORANCE IS THE CURSE OF GOD,
KNOWLEDGE THE WING WHEREWITH WE FLY TO HEAVEN
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Henry VI, Part II, act 4, sc. 7 (ca. 1598)

HOW CHARMING IS DIVINE PHILOSOPHY!
John Milton (1608–1674), Mask of Comus (1634)

Authors

The names and quotes in the Great Hall were chosen by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1825–1908) and Charles W. Eliot (1834–1926), president of Harvard University. The works of these illustrious authors were popular at the time the building was constructed, and they were considered to have made great contributions to literature and the study of history.

• George Bancroft
(1800–1891), American Historian and Statesman

• Edward Gibbon
(1737–1794), British Historian and Statesman

• Lord Alfred Tennyson
(1809–1892), British Poet

Printers' Marks from United States and Britain

Printers’ marks were a type of self-protection akin to a trademark or copyright today. Sometimes they protected privileges granted by kings or religious leaders. Often they incorporated mottoes based on the names of kings or religious leaders. Mottoes were often in Latin and sometimes in Greek or Hebrew. There are fifty-six printers’ marks around the ceiling on this level.

• John Day
• Charles Scribner’s Sons
• Harper and Brothers
• Riverside Press

Winged Figures of Genius

At the corners of the ceiling two winged figures of genius flank an emblem showing the traditional symbols of learning, a torch and a book. The figures were modeled by sculptor Philip Martiny (1858–1927). Stars appear in the painted background by the artist Frederic C. Martin (1866–?).

Ceiling

During the renovation of the Jefferson Building in the 1980s, restorers discovered that the metallic ornamentation of the ceiling, once thought to be silver leaf, is actually aluminum leaf. When the building was being constructed during the 1890s, aluminum was more precious than silver. The scale-pattern design of the six large skylights mirrors the pattern of the marble flooring beneath.