Hermes2.0001

Constantino Brumidi, 1805-1880, from "The Apotheosis of Washington," 1865, ceiling fresco in oculus of rotunda, U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C.

The liminal god Mercury, who fosters commerce and merchants (as well a thieves!) instructs the founders of the nation while also sheltering the laborers under his caduceus. His instruction is especially directed at Robert Morris, the American Revolution's financier. Over Mercury's head thirteen angelic persons represent the first 13 States/Colonies as they celebrate around George Washington in apotheosis. On the same level of the fresco as Mercury, other Olympians engage in the instruction of America. His peers are War=Lady Liberty (in lieu of Ares), Science=Athena/Minerva, Marine Arts=Poseidon/Neptune, Commerce=Hermes/Mercury, Mechanics=Hephaestus/Vulcan, Agriculture=Demeter/Ceres.

The image at right of Mercury is pretty much standard iconography — the hippocamps, triangular arrangement, nude Amphitrite, etc. — for triumphs of Neptune and Amphitrite from classical and neo-classical art.
Note: this slide's image at right is technically derived from Wikipedia, but it is used there in an undocumented copy from the Architect of the Capitol webpages. I have cropped it slightly for focus.