• The President's House
    Rufus Porter
    White House
    This watercolor painting by Rufus Porter is of the White House with the sun rising behind it. Porter was an American painter and inventor who went on to found the magazine "Scientific American" in 1845.
  • The Black Madonna by Jan E. Krantz
    Jan E. Krantz
    White House Guests
    Rose Garden
    mosaic
    This mosaic is a reproduction of the Black Madonna, a revered Polish icon, by Jan E. Krantz. The original, called Our Lady of Czestochowa, is housed in Jansa Gora Monastery in Czestochowa, Poland. The mosaic depicts the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus. This reproduction was gifted to President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Rose Garden by United States Senator Ed Muskie of Maine on behalf of the Polish-American people at the Polish National and Christian Millennium Day on May 3, 1966. President Johnson's proclamation of the day marked the 1000th anniversary of Polish Christian identity and nationhood, claiming it as the beginning of Poland's participation in the community of western nations. President Johnson later requested the mosaic be placed in the Immaculate Conception Church in Panna Maria, Texas, the oldest Polish settlement in the United States.
  • The Black Madonna by Jan E. Krantz
    Jan E. Krantz
    White House Guests
    Rose Garden
    mosaic
    This mosaic is a reproduction of the Black Madonna, a revered Polish icon, by Jan E. Krantz. The original, called Our Lady of Czestochowa, is housed in Jansa Gora Monastery in Czestochowa, Poland. The mosaic depicts the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus. This reproduction was gifted to President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Rose Garden by United States Senator Ed Muskie of Maine on behalf of the Polish-American people at the Polish National and Christian Millennium Day on May 3, 1966. President Johnson's proclamation of the day marked the 1000th anniversary of Polish Christian identity and nationhood, claiming it as the beginning of Poland's participation in the community of western nations. President Johnson later requested the mosaic be placed in the Immaculate Conception Church in Panna Maria, Texas, the oldest Polish settlement in the United States.
  • President Buchanan Meets with Japanese Delegation
    Unknown
    delegation
    White House Guests
    East Room
    military
    This illustration depicts President James Buchanan meeting with the Japanese diplomatic delegation in 1860. This was the first visit of Japanese representatives to the United States. The May 17, 1860 meeting, one of several between the Japanese delegation and the President, took place in the East Room of the White House and was attended by members of the military, government, and clergy among other guests.
  • Visitors From the East: President Buchanan Greets Visitors from Far Away, 1860
    Peter Waddell
    delegation
    White House Guests
    First Family
    This 2011 oil on canvas painting by Peter Waddell depicts President James Buchanan with his niece, and White House hostess, Harriet Lane greeting three Japanese visitors to the White House. The Japanese diplomats arrived in the United States in the spring of 1860. The visit was a response to the 1852-1854 expedition to Japan by Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry that resulted in an open trade treaty between the two nations. ***Interior use only for publications***