A variety of historically fascinating details fill William MacLeod’s 1856 View Of The City Of Washington From The Anacostia Shore. A Virginia-native, MacLeod would go on to become the first Curator of Painting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art from 1873 to 1889. His deep passion for the city was well-known and he was a longstanding witness to its history, having seen the burning of Washington by the British in 1814; the city's strategic position during the Civil War; and through to its growth into the nation’s capital based on the architectural plan of French-American military engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant. To discover five interesting elements of this 19th-century view of the nation's capitol, click ahead.
