Berks County Almshouse, 1880 by John Rasmussen

This is “Berks County Almshouse, 1880” by John Rasmussen, painted in oil and gold paint on a zinc panel. It is currently held in The American Wing collections. The most surprising thing about it is the material: the bird on the roof is actual gold leaf, chemically inert and permanent, sitting on a cheap zinc sheet. The medium is the message before the paint even dries.

Look at the four corner vignettes. A casual viewer sees a decorative border, but these are satellite maps. They catalog specific outbuildings that sit outside the main oval. The inscription panel at the bottom likely names the steward and the directors who commissioned the piece, turning this landscape into a public record.

Almshouses in 1880s Pennsylvania were working farms. The residents, often called inmates in the language of the time, worked the fields visible in the background. The tall chimney signals an industrial laundry or workshop. Rasmussen documents this without sentiment: the order is the point. The symmetrical wings, the neat fields, and the gold seal all argue that this institution is permanent and correct.

A zinc plate, a gold-leaf eagle, and a legal text at the bottom: it is a painting, but it works like a government bond. What do you think the gold bird meant to the people who lived under it?