 Very famous painting here, right? Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, painted during the American Civil War. It stands in the House of Representatives chamber in the National Capitol building. It's a massive fresco, a 20-foot long fresco in the House of Representatives painted by Immanuel Lutz. Lutz wanted this painting to demonstrate the kind of principle characters involved in America's westward expansion as he understood it up to 1863.