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 bottom right, the zodiac signs are Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, and Virgo.

The bronze bust of George Washington (1732–1799) is a copy of a work by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828).

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.

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 Mechanic, with a cogwheel, a pair of pincers, and a crown of laurel, signifies the triumphs of invention.

• A Hunter, with his gun, holds a rabbit by the ears.

• An infant Bacchanalian, with Bacchus’s grape vines and panther, joyously holds a champagne glass in one hand.

• A Farmer holds a sickle and a sheaf of wheat.

• America is represented as an American Indian, with a tall headdress of feathers, a bow and arrow, and a wampum necklace. With one hand he shades his eyes while he gazes intently into the distance and the future.

• Africa is represented with a war club and a necklace of the claws of a wild beast.

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 fisherman, with rod and reel, taking a fish from a hook.

• A Little Mars (the Roman god of war), polishing his helmet.

• A chemist, with a blowpipe.

• A cook, with a pot hot from the fire.

The putti represent the literary genres of Comedy, Poetry, and Tragedy.  Comedy has a comic mask and the ivy-wreathed wand of Bacchus, to whom the first comedies were dedicated. Poetry has a scroll, and Tragedy holds a tragic mask.

The circular panels above the doorways by Frank Weston Benson (1862–1951) represent Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. 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.

IT IS THE MIND THAT MAKES THE MAN, AND OUR VIGOR
IS IN OUR IMMORTAL SOUL
Ovid (43BC–AD17), Metamorphoses (AD8)

THEY ARE NEVER ALONE THAT ARE ACCOMPANIED WITH NOBLE THOUGHTS
Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), Arcadia (1590)

MAN IS ONE WORLD AND HATH ANOTHER TO ATTEND HIM
George Herbert (1593–1633), The Temple (1633)

TONGUES IN TREES, BOOKS IN THE RUNNING BROOKS,
SERMON IN STONES,
AND GOOD IN EVERYTHING
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), As You Like It, act 2, sc. 1 (ca. 1600)

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.

• Henry Wordsworth Longfellow
(1807–1882), American Poet

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

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

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–?).

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.