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

Louis Schaettle's Navigation is a tall, vertical study in watercolour and gouache that stages an allegorical sea voyage, with an enthroned figure presiding over labouring sailors below.

Visual Elements & Composition

A seated female figure in a flowing gold robe sits at the top of the composition on an ornate throne, her head framed by a green halo-like nimbus. She holds a long oar or tiller across her lap. Below her, a bare-chested man in a red sash stands at the stern with one hand raised to shade his eyes, while a second man at the left pulls against a long oar. Churning white water fills the base of the scene, and laurel branches frame the sides. The palette is built on gold, teal blue, sea green, rust red and stone grey. The word NAVIGATION sits in the cartouche at the foot, naming the theme.

Meaning & Symbolism

The pairing of an enthroned figure with working seafarers presents navigation as both a practical craft and a moral undertaking, with authority above guiding the effort below. The raised hand of the standing man and the strain of the rower convey the watchfulness and physical toil that safe passage requires. Louis Schaettle, born in Chicago, made this study around 1916 for a decorative panel in the Old Senate Office Building in Washington. Allegorical figures set within painted architectural frames were common in public buildings of the period, and this study records the planning stage where composition, palette and framing were settled.

Carrying the Voyage Close

A tee puts this composition on the body, where the gold figure and rust-red sash sit at chest height and the sea below moves with every step. The laurel-framed panel reads as a sequence of figures from shoulder to hem, so the shirt carries the allegory as something worn rather than something hung on a wall.