Jules Guerin was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1866, and began his career pursuits as a civil engineering student at Washington University. By 1880, he had decided his interests lay in art and he entered the School of the Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 1911, Henry Bacon hired Guerin to assist him in a design competition sponsored by the Lincoln Memorial Commission for a new memorial. Guerin, a prominent architectural illustrator, created exquisite watercolors of Bacon's design and Bacon was ultimately awarded the contract. Bacon later chose Guerin to create the two large murals, which along with the statue, inscriptions, and ceiling, were an integral part of the memorial's interior decoration.

Guerin's work in public buildings prior to the Lincoln Memorial included maps painted on the ceiling of McKim, Mead, and White's Pennsylvania Station in New York City, now demolished.

Renowned for his brilliant and subtle use of color, he was the director of color in the architecture and decorations at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.

Guerin's rendering of the Library of Congress', Jefferson Building was made between 1898, when it was completed, and 1925.

Medium : 1 drawing : gouache

Created/Published : Between 1898 and 1925

Creator : Jules Vallee Guerin, artist, 1866-1946

Part of the Cabinet of American Illustration housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress

Availability: Special order: ships in 3-4 weeks

Product #: cph3c31161