View of Part of the Ruins of Norfolk

A damaged brick wall and a few battered stone chimneys stand alongside the Elizabeth River in this watercolor entitled “View of Part of the Ruins of Norfolk.” The city of Portsmouth is visible in the background. English-born neoclassical architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, one of the designers of the U.S. Capitol, painted the scene in the detailed journals he kept during his travels in Virginia from 1796 to 1798.