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04/20/2008

This Month at the Capitol

A few weeks ago the portraits of Illinois Lieutenant Governors and Senate Presidents Pro Tempore that were on display in a third floor corridor on the east side of the Capitol were taken down and removed from the building for cleaning.  These paintings have  been returned to the Statehouse and relocated to Room 409, the new Senate committee hearing room.

Illinois Lieutenant Governor (and U. S. Senator), Lawrence Y. Sherman
Portrait by Oliver Dennett Grover, 1911

Some of these portraits had been covered with glass, which had allowed an accumulation of mold and mildew.  Mr. Rob DeLong, of RMD Gallery and Framing Studio, the company contracted to clean the paintings, stated that after careful removal of the glass covering them, the canvases were hydrated and surfaces of the portraits gently cleaned.  The company has worked on other portraits in the Capitol and their clients include the Illinois State Historical Society and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  Several of the paintings are nearly one hundred years old, but after removal of the glass and professional cleaning, the skill of the artists can once again be fully appreciated.

Illinois Lieutenant Governor (and U. S. Senator), Paul Simon
Portrait by John Milford, 1975

Among the artists whose signatures may be found on these portraits are Oliver Dennett Grover, Robert Marshall Root, and Carl Tolpo, who is responsible for six of the sixteen portraits in the room.

Click here to view a page dedicated to these paintings.