Louis Schaettle, born Chicago, IL - A Legislative Session (study for panel, Old Senate Office Building) - ca. 1916 - T-Shirt

A tall arched study in watercolour and gouache, showing winged allegorical figures above a gathering of men in eighteenth-century dress.

Visual Elements & Composition

The panel divides into two zones. Within the arch, two winged female figures in flowing drapery hover over the scene, one in blue-green and yellow holding a nude child against her body, the other in red robes raising a long horn. A vertical-striped flag is partly visible behind them. Below, seated men on wooden chairs fill a chamber, while a standing figure at centre-right gestures toward the group and a dark-coated man sits in the foreground with his back to the viewer. Laurel festoons frame the sides, and a gilt cartouche sits empty at the base. The palette is led by cream, with sky blue, coral red, gold and sage green carrying the figures and ornament.

Meaning & Symbolism

The composition places a deliberative assembly beneath an allegorical zone, setting public affairs under the sanction of ideals. The winged figure with the horn stands for proclamation and renown, and the striped flag ties the scene to the American republic. The men in period dress are shown as a sober, attentive body, so the act of legislating reads as a civic virtue, lifted by the figures above it. Louis Schaettle, born in Chicago, made this study around 1916 as a preparatory stage of a decorative mural, testing composition, figures and colour before the final panel was painted for the Old Senate Office Building. Its blend of allegory and historical genre belongs to the monumental decorative painting commissioned for public buildings in the United States in the early twentieth century.

Built for the Wearer's Eye

On a tee, the arch and its figures sit across the chest, so the eye moves from the winged pair down to the seated assembly the way it would across a large wall. The laurel frame and empty cartouche give the print a clear outline, and the solemn, idealised mood carries from the study into the wearer's everyday day.