Answer: Infamously, the British had sacked Washington, DC, in August 1814 and destroyed nearly all its public buildings, including the Capitol and president’s mansion. Famously, Dolley Madison had managed to save Gilbert Stuart’s full-length portrait of George Washington, which seems fitting, as Washington would remain the nation’s greatest hero. Though the ruined interior would require major renovation, the smoked-stained exterior of the president’s house soon received a bright coat of paint. The Capitol too was restored, and plans laid for a new Rotunda. In 1817, the renowned history painter John Trumbull won a commission for four life-size pictures to adorn it, all focusing on achievements of the Revolution. These paintings, completed between 1817 and 1824 and reproduced as engravings, won a broad, appreciative audience; they were ultimately installed in the Capitol in 1826, the nation’s jubilee. ps, I got this from nps.gov