Bas Relief of Maria Hester Monroe Gouverneur

This bas relief was crafted when Maria was about 17 and recently married to her cousin Samuel L. Gouverneur. The artist was Italian immigrant Pietro Cardelli, who was employed as a carver for the reconstructed US Capitol. Done in the Neoclassical style, the bas relief idealizes Maria as a virtuous woman of ancient Greece. Monroe described his youngest daughter as "a most excellent child without fault that we can discover . . . with the best qualities."