Meière, introduce the theme and depict a tree of life scene styled with Assyrian and Egyptian motifs. Meière also designed the gold leaf patterns on the walnut-beamed ceiling. The dominant images depict the three Euro-American powers that have claimed the land that is today Nebraska: Spain (castle and lion), France (fleur-de-lis and honey bee), and the United States of America (shield and bald eagle). Murals The mural program of the capitol is composed of twenty-one defined murals throughout the monumental hallways and Law Library, and a series of allegorical scenes within the Governor's Suite. On September 22, 1925, the Capitol Commission accepted proposals by New York artist Augustus Vincent Tack to paint rooms within the Governor's Suite—proposals begun with Bertram Goodhue prior to his death in 1924. Tack completed and installed his series of allegorical figures in November 1927. On February 21, 1930, the Capitol Commission hired Lincoln artist Elizabeth Dolan to paint a mural on the north wall of the Law Library. Dolan completed The Spirit of the Prairie in August 1930. It is the only mural in the capitol painted in situ. Apart from the Governor's Suite and the Law Library, Goodhue designed 20 recessed mural spaces for the monumental hallways of the capitol. In May 1933, under ever-worsening economic conditions, the Nebraska Legislature re-appropriated the Capitol Commission's unexpended budget. With depleted funds, the commission resolved to terminate its own existence, leaving the mural project incomplete. In 1951, the Nebraska Legislature created the Capitol Mural Commission and empowered it to complete the mural program. Over the next 50 years, the Capitol Mural Commission held a series of competitions to select artists for the remaining murals. The commission also used details from Dr. Hartley Burr Alexander's original thematic plan to guide the subject matter of the murals. {|class="wikitable sortable" style="width:45%" |+Capitol Murals ! width = 8% | Artist ! width = 8% | Title ! width = 3% class="unsortable" | Mural ! width = 3% | Date ! width = 3% | Material ! width = 2% class="unsortable" | Dimensions ! width = 10% | Location |- | Augustus Vincent Tack || Governor's Suite Series || ||1927 || Oil on linen ||||Governor's Suite |- | Elizabeth Dolan || The Spirit of the Prairie || ||1930 || Oil on linen||||Law Library |- | Kenneth Evett || The Labors of the Hand || || 1954 ||| Oil on linen |||| Rotunda