By the light of providence: The 'Glory Altarpiece' at St. Paul's Chapel, New York City

The Glory Altarpiece in St. Paul's Chapel, part of a strategy to rededicate its site to the new republic, represents themes that lie at the very core of the Foundation Myth of America. In conflating nationalism and religion, it recapitulates a defining characteristic of the early American republic itself. Study of the transformation of its French Catholic sources, when imported to Protestant America, helps define what is uniquely "American" about the work. The transmutation of these same sources during the French Revolution provides an example of the capacity of visual symbols to contain radical differences in meaning in different historical contexts.