Views of America

A book to honor the 250th anniversary of America, uncovering the history of the United States through works of art dating from America’s revolutionary period, from the collection of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the US Department of State.

Published as a follow-up to Rizzoli’s America’s Collection, with a new array of objects and original scholarship, this book celebrates the unparalleled collection of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, one of America’s most astonishing yet little-known treasures, located in the US Department of State’s Harry S. Truman Building in Washington, DC, now in a more accessible price and format. The collection is home to more than 5,000 fine and decorative art objects, mostly from 1740 to 1840, which tell stories from the nation’s founding era and formative decades.   

This survey of 100 key works brims with historical provenances: porcelain from the personal collection of George Washington, silverwork by Paul Revere, side chairs that descended through the family of Francis Scott Key, and the tambour writing table upon which the Treaty of Paris was signed and is still used for signing of diplomatic papers today. The book showcases the important paintings by John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Moran, Childe Hassam, and others, as well as examples of fine furniture and porcelain. The collection reflects the craftsmanship and spirit of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century America and forms a vital link between the past and today’s endeavors to represent the American character through the art of diplomacy.

Virginia B. Hart is director and curator of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms and Bri Brophy is deputy chief curator. Laaren Brown is a writer and editor for art and natural history topics. Mark Alan Hewitt is an architect and architectural historian. Marco Rubio is the Secretary of State of the United States of America.