This is a watercolor painting of the Capitol Building at night by Colin Campbell Cooper, Jr. The painting depicts the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. from a distance at night, with a carriage pulled up to the steps visible beyond the trees. Cooper was an American Impressionist who is most renowned for his architectural paintings, though he also painted portraits, interiors, florals, and landscapes. Cooper and his wife were aboard the RMS Carpathia while it conducted its April 1912 rescue mission of survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Cooper has two paintings in the White House Collection.

This watercolor painting is by Walter Paris. The wide canvas captures the width of Pennsylvania Avenue looking toward the Capitol building, visible in the distance. Born in Britain, Paris became an American citizen later in life. He was trained as an architect in addition to creating watercolors. Two of his paintings of Washington, D.C. are in the White House Collection.

This drawing is by Thomas Nast, a pictorial reporter with the New York Illustrated News who would later go on to work as a political cartoonist for Harper's Weekly. In the drawing, a large group of men congregate in the lobby of the famous Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. on March 6, 1861, just two days after President Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration. Notable among the men is Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, who stands conversing with another man on the right. The German-born Nast is widely considered to be one of the premiere political cartoonists in American history, famous for his early 1870s crusade against William Marcy "Boss" Tweed in New York City.

This watercolor was painted by Walter Paris. The vertical scene shows the West Front of the U.S. Capitol from the walkway into the Botanical Garden, then located on the west end of the Mall. Paris was born in Britain in 1842 and moved to the United States in 1872, later becoming an American citizen. Trained as an architect, he also painted numerous watercolors of landscapes and city scenes, including several of Washington, D.C. where he lived from 1890 until his death in 1906.

This oil on tin painting by an unknown artist is replicated from a steel engraving by William Henry Bartlett. The painting is an early representation of the United States Capitol with a dusty, bare ground surrounding it. Builders, planners, and passersby are scattered across the foreground.

This landscape of Washington, D.C. by Hudson River School artist Albert Bierstadt features the South Lawn with a vast, low-lying field beyond. Tiber Creek and the Potomac River, along with Long Bridge, push towards the horizon in the background. Standing prominently in the painting are a fountain and flag pole with the American flag raised at full mast, in a slight breeze, just right of center and extending nearly the height of the canvas. The fountain was from 1858 and was the first of its kind installed on the White House Grounds. It featured two tiers with sea serpents entwined around the fountain's shaft. The fountain was removed in 1869, the water jets having never worked properly. Bierstadt was renowned for his depictions of the American West and documenting Westward Expansion in the late 19th century. There are six pieces by Bierstadt in the White House Collection.

A quiet, pastoral landscape of 19th century Washington, D.C., this painting by William MacLeod shows an artist, perhaps MacLeod himself, sitting in the foreground, sketching the panoramic view in front of him. Farm land stretches out over most of the canvas with the expanding city of Washington pinpointing the horizon. The city is distinguished by the Potomac River just below the horizon line and the small markings of the Capitol, the Navy Yard, and the Smithsonian Institution Building. To the left, grouped together, are the incomplete Washington Monument, the Treasury Building and the White House. This is an early work of American artist MacLeod, who would go on to be the first curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

This oil painting by G. Cooke, also known as George Cooke, depicts the City of Washington as it appeared in 1833. The canvas shows a wide view of Washington from across the river, including the Navy Yard, the Capitol building and the White House as key landmarks within the city. Born in Maryland, Cooke began painting full-time around 1820, gradually gaining a reputation for landscapes. He studied under Charles Bird King in Washington.

This painting of a railway station was done by Lefevre Cranstone. A large crowd of people gather in front of the station, with the tower of the station rising up left of center of the image. Cranstone was a British artist who created several hundred watercolor paintings during a trip to America between 1859 and 1860. He trained at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

This painting of the U.S. Capitol was done by an unknown artist after William Henry Bartlett. The building represents the Old Capitol as completed by Architect of the Capitol Charles Bulfinch, circa 1836-1837, with Pennsylvania Avenue below it. People in various types of dress walk along the road.