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Title: Constantino Brumidi, Michelangelo of the United States Capitol
Author: Myrtle Cheney Murdock
Release Date: January 19, 2022 [eBook #67198]
Language: English
Produced by: Tim Lindell, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI,
MICHELANGELO OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL ***
CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI
MICHELANGELO
OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL
[Illustration]
CONSTANTINO
BRUMIDI
_MICHELANGELO OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL_
_By_ MYRTLE CHENEY MURDOCK
... _So long has Brumidi devoted
his heart and strength to this
Capitol that his love and reverence
for it is not surpassed by even that
of Michelangelo for St. Peter’s._
SENATOR JUSTIN S. MORRILL, FEB. 24, 1880
[Illustration: text decoration]
MONUMENTAL PRESS, INC. _WASHINGTON · 1950_
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
COPYRIGHT, 1950, _BY_ MYRTLE CHENEY MURDOCK, WASHINGTON, D. C.
TO MY SON
LT. DAVID N. MURDOCK
[Illustration: text decoration]
_Musician, Athlete, Infantryman
killed in action at Palermo, Italy
August 11, 1943_
Preface
It should be made clear by way of an introduction to this appraisal of
Constantino Brumidi that the author is neither an artist nor an art
critic. I am simply the wife of a Western Congressman who has been
stirred by the patriotism of the Italian refugee-artist, Brumidi; by his
exquisite decorations on the walls and ceilings of our Capitol Building
of the United States; by his persistent effort in the face of blinding
criticism; and finally by the lack, of recognition characterized by his
unmarked burial place.
I have asked myself these questions many times: “How can countless
exquisite frescoes and paintings adorn our Capitol Building and yet the
American people have little or no knowledge of their existence?” “Can an
artist spend twenty-five years decorating this Capitol Building and then
remain as unknown as his frescoes?” “How could a Government such as
ours, that has rewarded so many for so much, forget the artist, Brumidi,
and let him lie unhonored and unknown for seventy years in an unmarked
grave?”
These questions I cannot answer. I can only record for you authenticated
Brumidi facts as they have unfolded themselves to me during the fourteen
years I have been inspired by the artist’s frescoes--all the time
waiting for a poet or an artist to tell this story.
However, I do know that great service and sacrifice in our Democracy
often are not rewarded until long years have slipped away. I know, too,
that unjust criticism and ridicule can so befog the patriotic works of a
good man that even half a century is often not long enough for those
works to emerge with all their significant meaning.
I know, also, that when the early refugees to our shores negotiated
immediately for citizenship it indicated sincere appreciation for
America. This was true of Constantino Brumidi. He landed in New York on
September 18, 1852; he filed his original intention to become a citizen
of the United States on November 9, 1852; and he was admitted and sworn
on November 12, 1857. Indeed, he was so fired with love of liberty that
no amount of work and determined effort was too great for him to expend
for his adopted country.
He worked on the Capitol Building of the United States throughout the
terms of six presidents: Franklin Pierce; James Buchanan; Abraham
Lincoln; Andrew Johnson; Ulysses S. Grant; and Rutherford B. Hayes. He
made frescoed ceilings and wall murals in six Committee Rooms--five in
the Senate extension and one in the House extension. He is responsible
for the complete design and execution of the President’s Room in the
Senate Annex, the Senate Reception Room and a large mural in the House
of Representatives itself, the latter bearing his signature.
At the age of sixty he finished the almost unbelievable task of painting
in the very top of the Dome of the Capitol Building 4,664 square feet of
concave fresco--huge colorful figures that appear life-size 180 feet
below. Brumidi was evidently in sympathy with the words of Lincoln,
voiced when a critic put this question to our great President, “Do you
intend to continue building on the Capitol Dome during this war?”
Lincoln replied, “If the world sees this Capitol going on they will know
that we intend the Union shall go on.”
And even before the Civil War Brumidi sketched the fifteen scenes of
American history for a frieze to encircle the Rotunda, some 58 feet
above the floor. He had prayed to live long enough to paint this frieze,
but when the signal finally came from Capitol authorities to begin this
last cherished fresco he was an old man of seventy-two. Brumidi had lost
his physical strength but not his will to work toward the completion of
his dream.
The young wife he had married at the height of his American financial
success had long since gone with a younger man; his lonely years and his
poverty weighed heavily upon him; criticism and ridicule had undoubtedly
taken their toll but the old artist persistently stayed with that last
assignment.
Even when he slipped on his painting platform, the day of his almost
fatal accident, and hung by his bare hands 58 feet above the stone floor
of the Rotunda, until workmen could reach him from the top of the Dome
and from the floor below--even then it must have been sheer will power
that closed those old artist hands tight enough to hold his body weight
from the floor below.
But he never came back to finish his frieze. He died “at his parlor
studio with his work about him,” amid the loneliness and poverty which
he feared. He was buried by a few friends and forgotten.
That burial place was lost to our National Government for a period of
seventy years but the 81st Congress of the United States, without
debate, has voted to erect a monument, a simple marker, at the recently
found burial site of the Capitol artist. This National recognition,
though belated, is sincere appreciation for the Brumidi frescoes in the
Capitol Building of the United States that proclaim for all time the
artist’s genius, his love of liberty, and his reverence for America.
There is continually being uncovered other evidence of appreciation for
the artist Brumidi--recognition that has lain buried in the hearts and
homes of numerous American families and churches since the year 1880.
Many Brumidi canvases outside the Capitol Building of the United States
have been found: portraits of friends; working sketches in color for the
artist’s huge frescoes; and magnificent murals for church altars. Some
of these treasures are being offered to the Government of the United
States with the thought that a collection of Brumidiana may ultimately
be on exhibit at some central spot accessible to the American people.
What the critics termed “gaudy colored plaster” ninety years ago can, by
the miracle of modern printing, be reproduced for us today with all the
original color preserved. Could the artist have foreseen the exquisite
Brumidi reproductions in this book the burden of his last lonely years
would have been lightened.
M. C. M.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Vital research, extending over a period of years, necessarily touches
many people. At the culmination of any valued study an author suddenly
finds himself indebted to countless individuals. Fashioning a mosaic
from the life of Constantino Brumidi in spite of many missing pieces has
been no exception. I find myself humble before my corps of helpers.
After a dozen years of assembling the Brumidi life story it suddenly
became urgent that the material should be in printed form. At the same
time it also became apparent that publishing a Brumidi volume featuring
the artist’s Capital frescoes in color might never be realized, due to
the initial cost of such a book. At a crucial moment, two Foundations,
who wish to remain anonymous, became interested in the Capitol artist
and were anxious to help the project. Their timely grants influenced
beyond measure the final decision that such a publication could be
attempted. I acknowledge this valued assistance with deepest gratitude.
Years before this publication was conceived I began collecting
reproductions of the Brumidi Capitol frescoes. The book itself makes use
of this collection together with many color reproductions by the same
nationally known photographer, Theodor Horydczak. The Brumidi
frontispiece by Brady was made by Mary Evans of the L. C. Handy Studios.
Also before there was any thought of a publication the Architect of the
Capitol, the Hon. David Lynn, made available to me the Brumidi files for
study. The interest and courtesy of Mr. Lynn and his assistants always
spurred my efforts. The Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, the Hon. Joseph
C. Duke, and the Sergeant at Arms of the House, the Hon. Joseph H.
Callahan, have at all times shown their concern for the Brumidi project
by making available to the author the services of their offices.
I have needed and greatly valued the sincere interest of the Capitol
Guides and their leader, Harry Nash, who has been a Brumidi enthusiast
during his thirty-five years’ work as a guide in the Capitol Building of
the United States.
The Congressional services of the Library of Congress have shown great
enthusiasm for the Brumidi research by tracing willingly every suggested
clue and in addition often have launched forth on what seemed completely
hidden trails and emerged with valuable materials. I am remembering at
the moment the late George H. Milne of the Congressional Reading Room
whose appreciative feeling for Brumidi and his art helped to bolster my
early enthusiasm. The National Archives is another such human service in
our governmental set-up. It was personal appreciation for Brumidi on the
part of a group of employees of the National Archives that led to the
finding of so many public documents vital to this study.
I wish to acknowledge especially the services of the National Gallery of
Art and the National Collection of Fine Arts. These two galleries have
had a continuing interest in the unfolding Brumidi story. The officials
of the National Gallery of Art not only have been willing consultants
concerning the materials for an art book but have commissioned their
fresco expert to climb to the top of the Capitol Dome to examine
minutely the 4,664 square feet of Brumidi painting. When the expert
pronounced the Canopy “real fresco,” the National Gallery sincerely
shared my own joy at this verification. A special debt of gratitude goes
to the Director of the National Collection of Fine Arts, Thomas M.
Beggs, for his splendid introduction to this Brumidi memorial volume.
Because of Brumidi’s twenty-five years’ service within the Capitol
Building of the United States, the nation’s Public Printer, the Hon.
John J. Deviny, of the Government Printing Office, delegated Frank H.
Mortimer, Director of Typography and Design, to make available to the
author consultation and advice upon the many problems connected with the
publication of an art book. Mr. Mortimer and Mr. Warren W. Ferris of the
Division of Typography and Design have carried their help far beyond the
limit of duty. Their feeling for the subject matter of the book that
makes known the forgotten Capitol artist, and their desire to show forth
his work with the best possible arrangement and design, are partly
responsible for the dignified beauty of this volume.
Many individuals throughout the Capital City have helped materially by
their Brumidi enthusiasm, their sincere good wishes and by their active
interest in locating Brumidiana outside the Capitol Building. Mildred
Thompson, the great-grandniece of Mrs. Brumidi, the former Lola Germon,
has carried on consistent research of her own into the Germon family
which has verified many dates and other facts concerning the Capitol
artist. James H. Rowe, grandnephew of Lola Germon Brumidi, has performed
an outstanding service to the author by making available to her the
working sketches for the Rotunda Frieze. His desire to make known his
treasure by sending the priceless scroll across the continent is deeply
appreciated, although the sketches arrived almost too late to have even
one of the fifteen included on the last page of the book’s supplement.
Washington clubs and organizations have displayed their love for the
Capitol Building of the United States by supporting in every possible
way the author’s over-all plan to make known the forgotten Capitol
artist. Native Washingtonians together with recent arrivals have been
eager to visit the Capitol Building and to be shown the Brumidi
frescoes. These same Brumidi friends have also helped to promote the
marking of the artist’s lonely grave in Glenwood Cemetery.
Members of the Washington Press have been especially understanding and
helpful. Editors, correspondents and reporters alike have combined to
tell the American people about this Capitol artist and his great love
for American liberty. This sincere spirit of cooperation and feeling for
Brumidi is acknowledged appreciatively.
Congressman Murdock has consistently encouraged the Brumidi research
through the years. His continued patient interest has helped
immeasurably. To him and to Martha Wing go my last measure of gratitude
for their persistent combing of the manuscript for minute error.
It is a warm and friendly feeling of indebtedness that I have toward
those who have made appraisals in writing for this volume: Mr. Beggs
adds new appreciation for the Italian artist; Architect Lynn sees
Brumidi an integral part of the Capitol Building; and Virgil Perry pays
tribute to the author and to the book in a manner to make us proud. All
of this courtesy, however, is above and beyond friendship. It is a vital
part of the Memorial to Constantino Brumidi.
MYRTLE CHENEY MURDOCK
_Washington, D. C., October, 1950_
Table of Contents
CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI, ITALIAN REFUGEE 1
BRUMIDI ART IN THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL 11
COLOR REPRODUCTIONS OF BRUMIDI FRESCOES
IN THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL 47
THE ARTIST’S COMPENSATION 65
BRUMIDI’S AMERICAN WIFE AND CHILDREN 73
BRUMIDIANA OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL 83
Illustrations
[* Indicates real fresco.]
SENATE RECEPTION ROOM
_Washington-Jefferson-Hamilton_ 58
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE ROOM
*_Storming of Stony Point_ 62
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
_Maidens of the Navy_ 35
*_Washington at Valley Forge_ 43
PRESIDENT’S ROOM--SENATE EXTENSION
_The President’s Room_ 17
_The Cherub of Justice_ 24
_The Winged Cherub_ 25
*_Christopher Columbus, a portrait_ 21
_Singing Cherubs_ 19
_Alexander Hamilton, a portrait_ 27
*_Religion_ 23
_Thomas Jefferson, a portrait_ 57
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
*_Benjamin Franklin, a portrait_ 61
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
*_Legislation_ 64
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
SENATE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COMMITTEE ROOMS
*_Telegraph_ 63
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
*_Three Graces_ 41
*_History_ 37
GROUND FLOOR CORRIDORS--SENATE EXTENSION
_Bronze staircase, a Brumidi design_ 9
_Horatio Gates, a profile_ 69
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CHAMBER
_Washington at Yorktown_ 59
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ROOM
*_Spring_ 15
CAPITOL ROTUNDA
*_Landing of the Pilgrims_ 44
*_Penn’s Treaty with the Indians_ 45
CAPITOL DOME
_The Eye of the Dome_ 5
*_Brumidi’s Frescoed Canopy in the Eye of the Dome_ 49
_Agriculture_ (_Ceres_) 50
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
_Mechanics_ (_Vulcan_) 51
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
_Commerce_ (_Mercury_) 52
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
_Marine_ (_Neptune_) 53
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
_Arts and Sciences_ (_Minerva_) 54
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
_War_ (_Freedom_) 55
(REPRODUCED IN COLOR)
MISCELLANEOUS
_Constantino Brumidi, Brady photograph_ Frontispiece
_Mr. and Mrs. C. Brumidi, album photographs_ 77
_Brumidi’s Grave, Glenwood Cemetery_ 87
_Lola Germon’s Album_ 89
_Altar Mural, St. Aloysius Church_ 97
_The Capitol Dome_ 99
_Working Sketch for Dome Canopy_ 95
_Working Sketch for Three Graces_ 79
_Working Sketch for the Landing of the Pilgrims_ 111
Introduction
Enshrined in the domed Rotunda of the United States Capitol, as in the
Roman Pantheon from which it is descended, are the noblest hopes of a
mighty Nation. Yet less fearful of incurring the wrath of an
unpropitiated power than the ancients who raised a statue in their
sacred temple to “The Unknown God,” the American people have neglected
and all but forgotten patriotic mural painting. Long overdue also is
grateful tribute to its one-time protagonist, Constantino Brumidi. The
story of Brumidi’s life in this country and his labors to express
allegorically its principles of government and record visually the
events and personalities which achieved its establishment should be
instructive reading for many and particularly for those concerned with
the direction of American painting. By it they may be led to the
realization of a vital force that should be an important factor in
national life, an unknown power needed now in support of the heritage we
are called upon to defend.
The early settler in North America had little opportunity for monumental
painting. The austerity of religious belief dominating many new world
settlements, infused as they were with the spirit of the Reformation,
afforded meager encouragement to its development. American artists,
following Benjamin West to England, leaned heavily upon British custom
and precedent. West’s pupils--Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart and
Joseph Wright--became makers of likenesses, and liberty-loving John
Trumbull pursued historical painting to produce four of the eight great
framed pictures of the Rotunda of the Capitol. Contrasted with Brumidi’s
paintings, these mark the difference between the easel picture, a
loosely related, detachable embellishment, and mural decoration designed
in scale and color especially to enhance architecture.
The easel picture, the favored form of painting in the United States, is
a symbol not only of the American artist’s independence of expression
and freedom of enterprise but also of his dependence upon his own
resources and private patronage. Easily transported, it is adaptable for
exhibit in distant galleries, for sale to successive owners, and is more
easily reproduced. In the 19th century it was largely the means of
living for the professional fine artist. George Catlin found admission
charges to his exhibits remunerative. Others turned to engravings of
their subjects for profit. In the 20th century the framed picture has
become the delight of the amateur. American enjoyment of freedom of
thought and action is lived in the solitude of private studios. Yet too
rarely do these common privileges and fortunate blessings become the
subject matter of the canvases. These canvases exist solely for the
enjoyment of the individual.
Mural painting, however, in comparison to easel picture painting, is
made for the edification of large numbers of people and demands the
formal presentation of themes affecting all. The work of Brumidi, though
in a foreign style long past the crest of its vigor in service to the
Church, was found more suited to the requirements of monumental
architecture than that of native painters of the middle of the 19th
century.
The monumental mural is usually better if executed in fresco, the medium
which Brumidi used. This process of painting directly on the wall is
called “fresco secco” if the wall is allowed to harden and become almost
dry and the pigment bound to it by means of a glue size, casein or egg
yolk. This is much inferior to the true or “buono fresco” employed by
Brumidi in the dome which is painting on freshly laid plaster with
pigment suspended in pure water. Because the mortar sets in six or eight
hours the painting must be done in sections no larger than can be
completed at one time. In true fresco a finished study is generally
required. Frequently this assumes the form of a full-size detailed
drawing known as a cartoon. The outline of this is transferred to the
damp plaster wall by pouncing dry color through a perforated tracing or
“pattern,” or the cartoon on very light tough paper may be held against
the surface and contours pressed into the damp wall with a stylus.
Figures are modeled within the drawn lines. Terre verte is employed in
underpainting flesh, the rosier tones being superimposed later.
Accessories are painted in washes of varying depths and appropriate
colors further deepened or lightened until the desired three-dimensional
effect is gained. In the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo used color glazes
with such economy that the panels and single figures of his great
ceiling decorations truly appear as water color paintings. Brumidi
depended upon a heavier use of pigment and built up his lights opaquely.
If the day’s allotted portion is not satisfactorily finished while the
wall is still absorbent, it must be removed and worked again. As the
moisture leaves, the mortar sets and the wall hardens, its colors
becoming lighter and more sparkling as the white lime and crystalline
sand shine through. Carbon dioxide, ever present in the air, gradually
combines with calcium hydroxide of the lime plaster resulting in a
carbonate not unlike marble itself and very durable. Thus, the
decoration is truly a part of the architecture and, being inseparable
from it, is far more satisfactory than canvases from the most able
painters to be attached to wall or ceiling.
In the face of the current challenge to the American way of life our
painters should be given space in our Federal and State buildings for
decorations reaffirming the faith that made our Nation great. More
artists at present should be engaged in depicting the virtues of our
system of government in the interest of the development of appreciative
citizenship upon which it so justly depends.
Today, due to the rapidly declining private fortunes of the
industrialist-connoisseur class, the artist is facing a vacuity in art
patronage. Establish in its place a small but steadily sustained federal
program of mural painting, and a revival is possible here in the United
States not unlike that experienced in England when the social satire of
Hogarth’s brush was followed under royal patronage by one of the most
productive and prosperous periods of British painting.
This penetrating study of the life and works of Constantino Brumidi by
Dr. Murdock should arouse in public-spirited readers a desire to honor
the fresco artist for his accomplishment, an understanding of which is
of fundamental importance in a movement to further a strong national
program of mural art of an inspiring type. It is appropriate that this
history be addressed to laymen by one alert to the problems of the hour
and sensitive to the need of general public awareness of the power of
painting.
THOMAS M. BEGGS, _Director_
NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Constantino Brumidi, Italian Refugee
It was late afternoon. The House of Representatives Chamber in the
Capitol Building of the United States was deserted, save for one lone
figure that stood motionless before the freshly painted mural on the
south wall. Everything about this man in long black cape and close
fitting beret betokened pride and triumph in achievement--the tense
erectness of the body, the tilt of the head, the glow of the cheek and
even the angle at which he held his pallet and brush. Suddenly, with
strength and determination he said aloud, “I’ll do it,” then he rushed
back to the picture, bent possessively over the lower right hand corner
and began painting with quick, deft movements. When the lonely figure
finally left the Chamber he seemed so satisfied with his work that he
never once looked back.
Eighty years later as I stood before that mural on the south wall of our
House of Representatives Chamber--that portrayal of a crisis in American
history, representing Washington at Yorktown, I beheld for the first
time the words in the lower right hand corner, left by that proud
painter back in 1857, “C. Brumidi, artist. Citizen of the U. S.”
Suddenly I asked myself, “Who is this C. Brumidi who has so much pride
in his adopted country as to paint a portion of its Revolutionary
history on the wall of the House of Representatives Chamber, and who
glories so much in the citizenship of his adopted country that he
emblazons that sentiment forever before the Congress of the United
States?” I had no thought at that moment that those words inscribed on
the wall of the Capitol Building of the United States by Constantino
Brumidi could well be considered his epitaph, for he had no other,
expressed in words. And of course I was unaware of the bitter criticism
that followed his every effort. But I am ahead of my story.
So much did I want to see what this lover of America had done for his
adopted country by way of decorating our Capitol Building, that I
searched out every frescoed wall and ceiling, every painted panel,
lunette, or medallion in committee rooms, corridors and Rotunda that
were attributed to the Italian artist. As the number of those paintings
mounted in my tabulations and as the beauty of his decorations sank into
my consciousness, I decided he must have spent a lifetime in America for
surely it would take a lifetime for such accomplishment. Then I learned
that Brumidi came from Italy to America when he was almost fifty years
old!
From meager biographical data the following additional facts came
quickly to light: Brumidi was born in Italy in 1805, grew up in Rome,
was admitted to the Academy of Arts in that city when only thirteen
years old, and at the age of about thirty-five “restored some paintings
in the Sacred Palaces to the full satisfaction of Pope Gregory XVIth.”
About all that is known of the artist’s next twenty years is that he
became involved in “the French occupation of Rome in the year 1849 for
the suppression of Republican institutions,” and when his friend, Pope
Pius IX, was banished from Rome Brumidi was thrown into prison for
fourteen months. As Captain of the Papal Guard Brumidi had refused to
obey certain orders against his friends which resulted in the enmity of
Cardinal Antonelli, Minister of State. Pope Pius IX was finally restored
to the Vatican but he was unable to save Brumidi except on condition
that the artist would flee the country and never return. Finally, to
save his own life, Brumidi was forced to leave Italy. He reached America
in 1852.
While the above facts concerning Brumidi were much the same in the few
available references in the Library of Congress, stories of Brumidi’s
life in America and of his services to the United States seemed to vary
with the enthusiasm or bias of the narrator. Certain conflicting
statements centered about the merit and authenticity of his paintings;
the genuineness of his American patriotism; the amount of money paid him
for the paintings in the Capitol Building; the loyalty of the artist’s
family; the appreciation of the American people; and the poverty of the
artist at the time of his death. For the most part, however, little has
been written and less has been publicly known about the artist who spent
his last twenty-five years in devoted effort toward beautifying the
Capitol Building of the United States.
The most sympathetic appraisals of Brumidi’s art and his years in
America have been done by Charles E. Fairman, Smith D. Fry, George C.
Hazelton, Randolph Keim, and S. D. Wyeth. Mr. Wyeth wrote a small
pamphlet of six pages in 1866 on “Brumidi’s Allegorical Painting within
the Canopy of the Rotunda.” That was the year after Brumidi had finished
the huge canopy fresco in the Dome of the Capitol Building. The author
was so intent upon the allegorical interpretation of the figures in the
Dome canopy that he almost forgot the artist and his art. He did,
however, refer to Brumidi in this manner, “Brumidi has been mainly
engaged for years in ornamenting various portions of the walls
[Illustration: THE EYE OF THE DOME
The focal point of this Rotunda panorama is the huge Brumidi fresco
covering The Eye of the Dome. At this perspective the six allegorical
groupings about the circumference of the fresco are partly hidden from
view. A portion of Brumidi’s unfinished frieze, painted in imitation
sculpture, shows below the windows. Two white balconies encircle the
dome, one between the windows and the frieze, and the other at the very
top. A hidden stairway winds its way between the two iron shells of the
Dome, a vertical distance of 180 feet from the rotunda floor.]
of the Capitol, and his name will ever be associated with the history
and beauty of our world renowned National building.”
Since the Rotunda scaffolding, from which Brumidi worked on the Dome
canopy, was removed in January 1866 and the magnificent fresco was then
lighted and displayed for the first time to the public, we have every
reason to believe that Wyeth’s six pages of allegorical explanations of
that huge fresco, printed the same year, were direct from Brumidi’s own
carefully planned allegories.
The tiny book entitled, “Keim’s Capitol Interior and Diagrams” was
published in 1874. Since its stated purpose was “to furnish the visitor
to the Capitol with complete and reliable plans and diagrams, with
reference to and accurate descriptions of all objects of interest within
the building,” it made no effort to evaluate the Brumidi paintings but
it did give a comprehensive record throughout as to the location of
Brumidi’s work. Most of the Brumidi frescoes, oils, and decorative
portions can still be identified by the Keim references but some are
evidently gone forever, while others undoubtedly are merely covered by
the wall board or artificial ceiling panels of later renovations.
In George C. Hazelton’s book, “The National Capitol,” printed in 1897,
and dealing with “The Architecture, Art and History of the National
Capitol,” we find Brumidi a bit more appreciatively treated. Said
Hazelton, “No higher compliment could be paid to his genius than the
expression of a group of artists who were decorating the new building
for the Congressional Library. When they visited the Capitol to study
the frescoes of the Italian, they said, ‘We have nothing equal to this
in the Library. There is no one who can do such work today.’” Then
Hazelton continued, “Brumidi’s work so identifies him with the Capitol
Building that he may almost now be called the Michelangelo of the
Capitol.”
In “Fry’s Patriotic Story of the Capitol,” a booklet published in 1912,
the author refers repeatedly to Brumidi in such an intimate way as to
lead the reader to believe that Smith D. Fry must have known Brumidi
personally and must have loved the artist genuinely. Since Mr. Fry
graduated from law school the year the artist died it is not impossible
that the two were personally acquainted. In the following Fry quotation
there is evidence to support this view and the human touch to the
biographical sketch may have come direct from the artist himself. Mr.
Fry wrote,
“When about forty years of age, Brumidi threw away his brush and his
great career, declaring that he would never paint another stroke until
he had found liberty. Because of an indignity suffered by a member of
his family he became a revolutionary soldier and fought in vain for
liberty. When almost fifty years old he was banished from Italy and came
to America. Here he found liberty and became an intensely patriotic
citizen.”
Mr. Fry then gives a direct quotation from the artist himself. This is
unique, being the only direct quotation from Brumidi passed on in this
manner. Said Mr. Fry, “When Brumidi’s merit was disclosed (in America)
fame and fortune sought him. Thousands of dollars were his for the
taking. He refused all allurements in these words, ‘_I have no longer
any desire for fame or fortune. My one ambition and my daily prayer is
that I may live long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one
country on earth in which there is liberty._’”
Charles E. Fairman, art curator of the Capitol for thirty-two years,
compiled during that time valuable records on the “Art and Artists of
the Capitol of the United States of America.” Mr. Fairman was born in
1854 about the time Brumidi began his decorations of the Capitol
Building. Although Mr. Fairman did not begin his own work at the Capitol
Building until 1911 it is entirely possible that as a young man he had
occasion to watch Brumidi at work. While Mr. Fairman maintains an
impersonal attitude in his treatment of Brumidi, his record is
invaluable as proof of the authenticity of certain Brumidi frescoes and
paintings.
The whole colossal piece of research so carefully assembled by Mr.
Fairman and printed in 1927 contained the best summary of documentary
material available on Constantino Brumidi. Since Mr. Fairman’s book
covered all art and artists in any manner having connection with the
Capitol Building the parts devoted to Brumidi and his murals occupy a
not too prominent division of the book. However, Mr. Fairman’s combined
references to Constantino Brumidi are of great service to one making a
more extended study of the Capitol muralist.
_The Daily Evening Telegraph of Philadelphia_ announced Brumidi’s death
in its issue of February 19, 1880. On the following day this same paper
carried a lengthy article purporting to be an evaluation of the Brumidi
frescoes. So scathing and crude was the criticism by this anonymous
writer, even before the old artist had been buried, that one senses
instinctively that this same type of critical carping had no doubt been
stalking Brumidi from other sources during a period of years. The
following quotation is a glaring example of this unjust criticism:
“...Of Brumidi, the frescoer of the Capitol at Washington, whose death
was announced yesterday, it may be said, ‘He was most industrious.’ If
hard work always represents a value given and received, the industrious
Brumidi could be put down as having fairly earned the large sums which
must have been paid him out of the public treasury. But, if the quality
of his work is considered, we doubt whether those who are at all
competent to judge with regard to the matter will differ among
themselves as to the fact that his employment for a long term of years,
in the face of repeated and emphatic protests from people who knew what
good decoration was, was most scandalous.
“...He was permitted to paint on the interior of the dome a
composition which, both in design and execution, is about as abominable
as anything of that kind well could be. Now that he is dead and out of
the way, let us hope that something like a serious effort will be made
to have his place filled by an artist who is an artist, and who has some
claims to consideration other than that of being skilled in the fresco
process.”
On that same day, Friday, February 20, 1880, another reporter, this time
for the _Washington Post_ in the Capital City, told of the death and
life of Brumidi with a show of sympathetic appreciation. A portion of
this article follows:
DEATH OF A GREAT ARTIST
“Constantino Brumidi, the artist, died yesterday morning at his
residence, 921 G Street, at 6:30 o’clock. For months past he has been
failing, but until within two weeks has been able to work every day in
his studio, and was dressed and sat up each day until the one preceding
his death. For a fortnight he has been failing rapidly. The last
twenty-four hours before his death he was unconscious, but at the last
moment he recognized those around him. The funeral will be attended from
the house on Saturday. Mr. Brumidi leaves no family in this city except
an adopted son, who bears his name and has adopted his father’s
profession.
“Almost until the last hour he continued his work on the frescoes in the
dome of the Capitol, though compelled to sit instead of standing, his
hand and eye were as true and strong as ever, and the work from that
point on shows no loss in spirit or excellence of execution. For months
the little scaffold that clings to the wall in mid air under the dome of
the Capitol has been deserted, and curious strangers, looking at the
neglected cartoons hanging over the railings have been told that Brumidi
would never come back to finish his frescoes. It was the dream of his
life that he should come back. He wanted with his own hand to lead that
historic procession round the dome till the encircling frieze should be
complete. Of late, as growing infirmities have pressed upon him, he has
gradually abandoned the hope and occupied himself in enlarging his
original cartoons to working size, so that any artist might complete the
work by simply following copy.--He lies in the pleasant parlor studio of
his house, in death as in life, with his work about him. Half-finished
designs are sketched on the walls, and busts and statuettes fill the
corners; canvas and palette are on the easel.”
In the Senate of the United States on February 24, 1880, four days after
the burial of Brumidi, two speeches were made in reference to the
artist, one by Senator Voorhees of Indiana, and another by Senator
Morrill of Vermont. Senator Voorhees eulogized Brumidi in this manner:
“May I not be pardoned some brief mention of the wonderful genius, so
long, so gently, and so beautifully associated with this Capitol? He
died poor, without money enough to bury his worn-out body, but how rich
the inheritance he has left to the present and succeeding ages! During
more than a quarter of a century he hovered along these walls from the
basement to the Dome, leaving creations of imperishable beauty wherever
his touch has been. Wherever he paused by a panel, or was seen suspended
to a ceiling, there soon appeared the brilliant conceptions of his
fertile and cultivated mind. We can form no correct idea of the extent,
the variety, and the perfection of his taste and skill as an artist
without sometimes forgetting our pressing cares, as we look in detail
over his field of labor.”
Senator Morrill spoke of the artist in these words of friendship and
understanding:
“Covering as he has done so much space with his fresco paintings--so
difficult and so durable--it is wonderful that so great a part should be
fairly excellent and so little that
[Illustration: BRUMIDI STAIRWAY
So long has the name Brumidi been associated with the lovely cherubs
about the Capitol Building that even this bronze staircase has come to
be called a “Brumidi Stairway.” Two such Brumidi stairways lead from the
House Chamber and two from the Senate Chamber. Hazelton wrote in 1897,
“Brumidi made the attractive designs of the eagle, deer, and cherubs for
all the railings upon paper; they were modeled by Baudin and cast in
Philadelphia.” Mr. Baudin wrote from Philadelphia to Captain Meigs in
1857, “...I am waiting for the drawings for the stair rail....”]
competent critics esteem otherwise. If he has not attempted the
ambitious role of the old masters on the walls and ceilings of churches,
it may be at least said that his hand has rarely touched anything which
it has not decorated. Even after that accident by which his life hung
many minutes fearfully imperiled under the Dome of the Capitol, his
latest work there, unfinished though it be, shows that his hand had not
lost its cunning, and his acquaintance with American history and skill
in its portrayal has, perhaps, never been more happily displayed.
“Those who have, without any special intimacy, barely seen this poor and
quiet old man as he slowly passed and repassed to his daily tasks or who
have but for a moment listened to his speech in broken English, and
never heard his glib tongue when he met those with whom he could
converse in his native language, will hardly comprehend his merits as a
severe student in the art to which he had devoted his whole life, still
less will they be inclined to credit the rapid and correct drawing of
which he was undoubtedly a master; but the evidences of his rare genius
and of swift work are too conspicuous to be denied. We have only to look
around to behold them all.
“Brumidi was a diligent reader of Dante, of Gibbon, of Bancroft, and
many other works from which he derived his historical and classical aid
and his great desire was that he might live to complete his last great
work. So long had he devoted his heart and strength to this Capitol that
his love and reverence for it was not surpassed by even that of Michael
Angelo for St. Peter’s.”
[Illustration]
Brumidi Art in the United States Capitol
Brumidi’s art in the Capitol Building is not all accessible to the
casual visitor. The large mural already mentioned which the old master
executed on the wall of the House of Representatives Chamber can be
viewed by visitors only from the galleries of the House, unless some
special dispensation takes the visitor to the Floor of the House of
Representatives for a close-up study. The beautiful frescoes on the
walls and ceilings of six committee rooms, one in the House extension
and five in the Senate extension, can be seen only by special permission
or by attendance at certain committee hearings.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ROOM
The frescoes in the House of Representatives Committee room, originally
occupied at the time of execution by the Committee on Agriculture, were
finished in 1855. This room displays two large crescent-shaped wall
frescoes, referred to as “lunettes” by Brumidi--“The Calling of
Cincinnatus from the Plow”, and “The Calling of Putnam from the Plow to
the Revolution.” Two portrait heads in imitation sculpture adorn the
other two walls of this room. Beneath the marble-like medallion head of
Washington is a choice panel showing an American harvest scene of early
date, while beneath the medallion head of Jefferson on the opposite wall
is what was then a modern threshing scene, a golden field of grain being
harvested by the new McCormick Reaper. The ceiling is light and gay and
exquisite with designs representing Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
The blues and golds and inimitable flesh tints of the entire room seem
not to have faded one whit during the ninety years they have spread
cheer and beauty about an otherwise sombre corner of the House extension
of the Capitol.
In spite of all the beauty Brumidi painted into the old Capitol Building
the Congressional Journal for those Brumidi years records occasional
reference on the Floor of the House, criticizing the Italian artist and
his work. In 1858 Congressman Lovejoy ridiculed in the House Chamber
that “brilliant interpretation of the seasons” by Brumidi in his first
frescoed ceiling decorated for the use of the House Agriculture
Committee. Said Mr. Lovejoy in his Congressional speech,
“Overhead we have pictures of Bacchus, Ceres, and so on, surrounded with
cupids, cherubs, etc., to the end of heathen mythology. All this we
have; but not a single specimen of the valuable breeds of cattle,
horses, sheep, etc., which are now found in this country. In another
panel, we have a company of harvesters with the sickle, which is well
enough, only a quarter of a century too late. But worst of all, there is
not a single picture to represent maize. A panel ought to have been
given to this single production. It should have been represented in its
different stages; as it emerges, weak and diminutive, from the ground,
as it sways in its dark luxuriance of June and July; and then as it
waves its tasseled crest, like the plumes of an armed host; and last as
it stands in its rich golden maturity.”
We find Brumidi’s art defended, however, on the Floor of the House of
Representatives about two years later, on June 15, 1860, by Mr. Curtis
of Pennsylvania. Said Mr. Curtis,
“If you go into these committee rooms, and these galleries, of which we
have heard so much, and take any honorable and fair-minded artist with
you, he will himself do justice to the specimens of art that will be
before him, and admit its distinguished worth. What, sir, can be more
beautiful than the fresco work in the room of the Agricultural
Committee?”
Hanging on the side of a bookcase today, in this House Committee Room,
where Brumidi began his Capitol decorations, is a framed bit of verse
put on display evidently by an admirer of the artist. This attempt to
give poetic expression to the worth of Brumidi and his art was written
by Horace C. Carlisle, a present employee of the Architect’s office of
the Capitol. Seven such pieces of verse on Brumidi and his art, written
by Mr. Carlisle, were placed in the Congressional Record by Congressman
Sheppard of California, on April 7, 1944. The verses themselves are
irregular but one line in the frame beneath Brumidi’s first American
fresco is an immortal prophecy. Said Mr. Carlisle, concerning Brumidi
and that first fresco in the Capitol Building:
“Above the rebuke of the scorner he climbed to glory height there.”
In 1874 Brumidi himself referred to his first American fresco in a
statement, “Relative to his employment at the Capitol,” which is now
preserved in the Architect’s office. Said Brumidi, in part,
“The Committee Room on Agriculture in the south wing of the Capitol was
painted in 1855 as the first specimen of real fresco introduced in
America.
“In this connection can be mentioned a curious mistake common in this
country, and that is the calling all and every decoration in oil,
turpentine or glue that is put upon dry walls, real fresco.
“Fresco derives its name from fresh mortar, and is the immediate and
rapid application of mineral colors diluted in water, to the fresh
mortar just put upon the wall, thereby the colors are absorbed by the
mortar during its freshness, and repeating this process in sections day
by day, till the entire picture will be completed.
“This superior method is much admired in the celebrated works of the old
masters, and is proper for historical subjects or classical
ornamentations, like the Loggia of Raphael at the Vatican.”
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CHAMBER
A most revealing side light on the Cornwallis-Washington mural on the
south wall of the House of Representatives Chamber, earlier referred to,
is brought forth by an anonymous letter written on December 14,
[Illustration: SPRING
One of four pleasing groups on the ceiling of the Old House Agriculture
Committee Room is this Brumidi conception of spring. The four seasons on
this ceiling make up Brumidi’s first fresco in the Capitol
Building--painted in 1855. What appear to be sculptured figures and
attached moldings surrounding the center panel in this picture are
actually painted decorative borders on a flat surface. It was probably
the tender hues of spring on this ceiling that led Congressman Curtis to
say in 1860, “What, sir, can be more beautiful than the fresco work in
the room of the Agriculture Committee?”]
1857, to Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, Superintendent of Construction,
two days before the House met in its new “Hall of the House of
Representatives.” The letter protesting this contract follows:
“Dear Sir:
It will be news to you, I dare say, to learn that there is a party
organizing to effect your removal from the Superintendent of the
Capitol extension and I take leave to say to you that the wall
painting, ‘The Surrender of Cornwallis,’ is considered
inappropriate and the execution execrable, in view of all of which
I suggest to you to have the painting wiped out.
Your friend and supporter,
OFFICIOUS”
Since Captain Meigs could not reply directly to “Officious” he gave vent
to his feelings by penning a note on the above letter. This note gives
among other things an idea of the speed with which Brumidi was able to
work under pressure. The note follows:
“One of many indications. The picture is as good as could be
painted in six weeks. It serves to show what the effect of painting
on the panels will be which is all I intended. It cost little and I
have not the least objections to a better painting being by
Congress put over it, but it is the best that could be done at the
time and no more time was at my immediate disposal.
M. C. M.”
In 1859 a Congressional Committee voiced a criticism which undoubtedly
refers also to the Cornwallis-Washington painting in the House Chamber.
They said,
“Far greater sobriety should be given to these Halls in their general
effect, so as to render them less distracting to the eye. Few are aware
how disturbing to thought the display of gaudy, inharmonious colors can
be made. This very quality renders such combination of colors unsuited
to halls of deliberation where calm thought and unimpassioned reason are
supposed to reside.”
Mr. Curtis of Pennsylvania rose again in the House of Representatives on
June 15, 1860, in defense of Brumidi’s art but with special reference to
the House fresco. Said he,
“I have heard with some regret appeals made to the prejudices of the
country in regard to the specimens of art taste displayed about this
Capitol; and I have been surprised that no one connected with this
Branch of service has risen upon the Floor to do justice to those who
have devoted their lives and energies to the embellishment of our public
buildings. What is more splendid than the fresco in some of the halls
and passages around the Senate Chamber and especially the emblem of
Religion in the President’s
[Illustration: THE PRESIDENT’S ROOM
With its richness of design, its beauty and delicacy of color, the
President’s Room represents Brumidi’s supreme effort “to make beautiful
the Capitol” of the United States. Facing the portrait of Hamilton we
see reflected in the giant golden mirror the portrait of Samuel Osgood.
Reflected also are the ceiling frescoes of Vespucius and Religion and
the treasured mahogany table at which Abraham Lincoln and many other
Presidents have signed legislative bills. The mahogany clock at one time
had hands of gold until a souvenir hunter carried them home. Today all
sightseers get no further than a railing at the doorway.]
Room? And in this Hall, where do you find room to criticize the
combination of colors which you see around you? It is easy to invent a
popular criticism and find fault; but I would like to see some of these
gentlemen who are so conversant with matters of taste and art as to
speak with the assurance of masters, bring forward some design, some
specimen from their superior genius that they would themselves insert in
place of that which they see around them.”
PRESIDENT’S ROOM
The decoration of the President’s Room in the Senate Annex is thought by
many to be Brumidi’s best work in the Capitol Building. Since the
President’s Room in the Capitol was to be set aside for the use of the
President of the United States at any time duty called the President to
the Capitol Building, it may well be supposed that Brumidi wanted that
room to be as beautiful as an artist could make it. He is said to have
spent more than five years on this room alone, but five years seem not
half long enough to create such beauty as is here displayed.
Five colorful ceiling-to-floor panels adorn the walls and in the center
of each hangs a portrait elegantly framed. The five members of
Washington’s first Cabinet are thus honored--Thomas Jefferson of
Virginia, Secretary of State; Edmund Randolph of Virginia, Attorney
General; Henry Knox of Massachusetts, Secretary of War; Alexander
Hamilton of New York, Secretary of the Treasury; and Samuel Osgood of
Massachusetts, Postmaster General. I say these portraits hang in the
panels. If you stood at the door looking hurriedly about the walls, as
most visitors must do at the President’s Room, you would think the
frames as real as the portraits. In truth, though, the beautifully
carved frames are painted on the walls as are the portraits. Mr. Fairman
calls these paintings, “Portraits of Distinction,” and so they are.
But it is the frescoed ceiling in the President’s Room that showers new
light and color and added beauty about the portraits on the walls. Four
symbolic groups on this ceiling look down from their large medallion
gold leaf frames--four life-size Madonnas, symbolizing Religion,
Legislation, Liberty, and Executive Authority--Madonnas of great beauty
and rare coloring. Then at each corner of this frescoed ceiling among
the symbolism and the cherubs are four life-size portraits, full length,
each chosen as representative of a force in civilization. Columbus
memorializes discovery; Vespucius, exploration; Brewster, religion; and
Franklin, history.
The portrait of George Washington, evidently done with Rembrandt Peale’s
Washington in mind, has a position all its own high above the portrait
of Thomas Jefferson. A portion of the Annual Report of Captain Meigs,
dated October 27, 1859, fixed the completion of the Brumidi frescoes in
the President’s Room. Said that report, “The painting of the President’s
Room in the North wing will be completed by the next meeting of
Congress.”
Even during the years that Brumidi created the beauty of the President’s
Room cruel words were hurled against his art. In 1858 a convention of
self-styled American artists assembled and drew up an estimate of their
own worth which they titled: “Memorial of the Artists of the United
States.” This petition of grievance presented to the Congress of the
United States carried the names of 127 individuals, chiefly from New
York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore with only eight from the
Capital City. Among the signatures were found the names of Rembrandt
Peale, W. D. Washington and Johannes A. Oertel, the latter being the
draughtsman who
[Illustration: SINGING CHERUBS
These three cherubs occupy a position beneath the portrait of William
Brewster on the ceiling of the President’s Room comparable to that of
the cherub detail beneath the portrait of Benjamin Franklin on the same
ceiling. Since Brewster, as the religious leader of the Pilgrims and
elder of the Plymouth colony, typifies “Religion” in Brumidi’s over all
design in the President’s Room, the singing cherubs with their director,
violinist, dove attendant, and music script must be singing hosannas of
peace and devotion. (Cherubs in chapter tailpieces are from this
ceiling.)]
challenged Brumidi’s right, in 1858, to paint the ceiling fresco in the
District of Columbia Committee Room of the Senate.
It is illuminating to know that 88 of the 127 names listed as artists in
the above Memorial do not even appear in the National Encyclopedia of
American Biography while among those that do appear, less than a dozen
are recognized today as artists of note.
The Artists’ Memorial began with these words, “Your memorialists appear
before your honorable bodies to solicit for American art that
consideration and encouragement to which they conceive it to be entitled
at the hands of the general government.” Then the Memorial asked that
Congress “establish an Art Commission composed of those designated by
the united voice of American artists as competent to the office, who
shall be accepted as the exponents of the authority and influence of
American art, who shall be the channels for the distribution of all
appropriations to be made by Congress for art purposes, and who shall
secure to artists an intelligent and unbiased adjudication upon the
designs they may present for the embellishment of our National
buildings.”
The House of Representatives referred the Artists’ Memorial to a select
committee of five. This Committee brought out Report No. 198, March 3,
1859. That Report not only sanctioned the establishment of the suggested
Art Commission to protect the “embellishment of National buildings” but
it voiced criticism by the Congressmen making up the select Committee of
five. Brumidi’s name was not mentioned in the Report but there is no
mistaking the artist to whom they referred. Said the Committee in this
Report:
“A plain coat or two of whitewash is better, in the opinion of this
committee, for a temporary finish than the tawdry and exuberant
ornamentation with which many of the rooms and passages are being
crowded.... An eagle and the National flag may be discovered
occasionally amidst the confusion of scroll work and mythological
figures presented to the eye; but the presence of conventional gods and
goddesses, with meaningless scrolls and arabesques, albeit they may be
wrapped in the red, white and blue, will never suggest to the American,
as he wanders among the halls and committee rooms, any idea to touch his
heart or to inspire his patriotism.... Should he seek an explanation
from those who are manufacturing the cumbrous levities which everywhere
appear through the building he will be eminently fortunate should he
find among them one who speaks the English language.”
The real fight of the petitioners was evidently against the employment
of a foreign artist. However, this was not expressed openly in the
Memorial but the select committee of
[Illustration: DISCOVERY
The theme of Brumidi’s ceiling fresco in the President’s Room, as
portrayed by Christopher Columbus, is that of “Discovery.” This subject
is intensified by use of the globe and map in the cherub detail above
the portrait. At upper left is a segment of the medallion, “Executive
Authority,” and at the right a portion of another medallion, “Liberty.”
The four small decorative medallions at the portrait corners are State
seals. At the upper left is Vermont; at upper right, Kentucky; lower
left, Arkansas, and lower right, Michigan.]
five from the House of Representatives made the open accusation. Said
they in their Report, “The Committee have not been informed that
American artists have been engaged upon the embellishment of the
Capitol, but they have been made painfully conscious that the work has
been prosecuted by foreign workmen under the immediate supervision of a
foreigner. As a consequence the Committee find nothing in the design and
execution of the ornamental work of the Capitol, thus far, which
represents our own country, or the genius and taste of her artists.”
This unjust criticism of Brumidi found expression in the New York Daily
Tribune for May 17, 1858, through that paper’s Washington correspondent.
The New York attack on the artist, however, was answered in the Tribune
for May 31, 1858, by Guglielmo Gajani, a friend of Brumidi’s. Extracts
of this defense of Brumidi follow:
To the Editor of the New York Tribune:
I have lately been at Washington and derived much pleasure from
visiting the National Capital and its splendid buildings and works
of art. I admired them and was much pleased with the frescoes and
decorations of my fellow citizen Signor Constantino Brumidi. But on
my return to New York my attention was directed to a correspondence
of the Tribune (May 17) and to other attacks made against that
artist and his works at the Capitol.
I knew him in Rome, where he was much esteemed and has left
excellent specimens of his artistic skill. I can hardly believe
that ten years of exile could have so entirely destroyed his
capacity or impaired my judgment. Had the attack been confined to
the ground that artists or workmen of foreign birth who are
satisfied with a small compensation should be excluded from the
Capitol in order to have the work done exclusively by natives well
paid, I would have nothing to say for I keep off entirely from your
administrative questions and politics. But on the ground of art and
taste a Roman might be allowed to express an opinion quite
different from that of your own correspondent and his friends.
Fresco painting represents in art what improvisation is in poetry.
The artist must execute his work upon a fresh wall, tracing the
outlines by a steel point and using mineral colors which are
instantly absorbed and do not show their effect until the wall
dries. The artist, therefore, must work with great rapidity and has
no opportunity for corrections. It does not require a greater
capacity than the ordinary painting with oil or water colors on a
dry wall, but the artist must have a peculiar disposition, and this
the Italian possesses to a greater degree than others.
Michelangelo had never practiced fresco painting when Bramante
procured him the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel with a view to ruin his reputation. Michelangelo called from
Florence his former schoolmate, Granacci, and other fresco
painters, to teach him the art. He was much perplexed at the
beginning but afterward declared it the best style of painting. I
believe that your best painters, by exerting themselves and gaining
experience, might have succeeded in doing the work accomplished by
Brumidi, but it would have required a long time and an enormous
expenditure.
It is a fact that in France, in England, in Belgium, in Italy and
everywhere public buildings have been decorated by competent
artists, you meet the same style and symbols, allegories and
classical memories occasionally adopted by Signor Brumidi. Before
condemning him you must find fault with all the best painters who
preceded him, and especially with Michelangelo and Raphael who
[Illustration: RELIGION
Four Brumidi Madonnas on the frescoed ceiling of the President’s Room
are of great interest to visitors. The most lasting impression, however,
is made by “Religion.” The story is often repeated that Brumidi painted
“Religion” with an “all-seeing eye of God” which will follow any
individual from place to place inside the room. The “connections of the
pieces of plaster” which help to identify real fresco are easily
discernible in this medallion background. The color beauty of “Religion”
is illustrated by “Legislation” in this book’s color section.]
[Illustration: THE CHERUB OF JUSTICE
Well balanced scales and a sword seem to be necessary attributes of
Brumidi’s conception of “Executive Authority” in the President’s Room.
The Cherub of Justice and the many other cherubs used so generously in
the artist’s Capitol frescoes are favorites with art enthusiasts. All
designs and deceptive moldings shown above are painted in oil on dry
plaster. The corner of a tall elaborate mirror frame shows at the
right.]
[Illustration: THE WINGED CHERUB
Resting midst bundles of papers, bills, and Congressional debates, the
Winged Cherub suggests another Brumidi theme, “Legislation,” on the
walls of the President’s Room. The signature “C. Brumidi, 1860,” can be
identified on the packet of State papers at the feet of this cherub. The
two cherubs on these pages fill decorative niches high on the walls on
either side of a huge, ceiling-to-floor, gold-framed mirror.]
introduced that style of fresco in the Vatican itself.... It is
absurd, therefore, to despise the works of Signor Brumidi because
“they look foreign and betray the Italian element,” that is to say,
because they are classical in the subject and artistic in the
execution.
I confess that my national feelings were a little wounded when I
saw vituperated to some extent in Washington an artist much
esteemed in Rome. Music and the fine arts are all that remain of
our former greatness, and we are naturally jealous of this glory.
Besides, I am convinced that Signor Brumidi is a good artist and an
excellent fresco painter. He has studied long in Rome, even from
his boyhood, and visited for instruction all the most important
schools of art in Italy. Baron Camucini was his master in painting,
and the great Thorwaldsen taught him sculpture. In both arts Signor
Brumidi has left several specimens of his skill in Rome. For
instance, he was employed during eleven years in making frescoes
and decorations of the villa and of the palace of Prince Torlonia
in Rome. These works are admired by visitors. Should an American
admire the works of Signor Brumidi at home and despise them when he
finds them at Washington?
Signor Brumidi was also employed by the Government in Rome,
together with other distinguished artists, to prepare the
chronology of the Popes, in the new Basilica of St. Paul, and was
allowed to finish his work after the revolution, notwithstanding
that he was persecuted for the part which he took in that movement.
The Republican Government of Rome honored Signor Brumidi with an
important commission as he was much esteemed for his talent and
personal qualities. I am glad, myself, that he has already executed
some works at the Capitol. They speak for themselves to those who
have taste for the fine arts.
GUGLIELMO GAJANI
In the Architect’s Report for 1859 we find this reference to the
detrimental influence of the Artist’s Memorial:
“The action of Congress in restricting the expenditure for painting and
sculpture to the completion of the painting of rooms in the North Wing
already partly done ... and to such paintings and sculpture as shall
have been approved, first, by a committee of three American artists, to
be appointed by the President and then by the Library Committee of
Congress, has prevented the commencement of any new works.”
It seems certain, however, that Brumidi was not often continuously
employed on any one picture. As shown by his vouchers, if work was held
up in one direction he could easily employ himself in another. For
example, he began work in the Senate Library in 1858 and the Architect
of the Capitol records
[Illustration: ALEXANDER HAMILTON
This portrait of Alexander Hamilton is one of the five color
representations of Washington’s Cabinet, painted by Brumidi on the walls
of the President’s Room. The color and design of the frame and panel are
equally as beautiful as those surrounding the portrait of Jefferson in
the color section of this book. The portrait of George Washington high
above those of his Cabinet evidently was done with that of Rembrandt
Peale in mind. All others are thought to be Brumidi’s own
conceptions.]
the finish of the Senate Library ceiling in 1875. But during those years
the 4,664 square feet of fresco in the Canopy of the Dome was finished
as well as the President’s Room and many committee room frescoes and
hall decorations in the Senate Annex. References in Reports and letters
usually give the finishing date of the fresco while the beginning date
is seldom mentioned.
CAPITOL DOME
The huge fresco on the canopy of the Dome of the Capitol Building is
signed “C. Brumidi, 1865.” In the Annual Report dated November 1, 1863,
of Thomas Walter, Architect of the Capitol (1851-1865), we find this
reference to the Dome canopy:
“The cartoons for the picture on the canopy over the eye of the inner
dome are being prepared, and its execution will be commenced as soon as
the iron work which is to receive it can be put in place.”
Certain letters in the National Archives between Brumidi and United
States officials shed interesting light on the 1862 negotiations
relative to the Dome Canopy. Extracts from these letters follow:
From Tho. U. Walter, “architect of extension and new Dome,” to
Constantino Brumidi, August 18, 1862: “It is intended to have a picture
65 ft. in diameter painted in fresco on the concave canopy over the eye
of the New Dome. I would thank you to furnish me with a design for the
said picture at your earliest convenience.... You will also submit with
the design an estimate of the cost of executing it in real fresco
painted on the fresh mortar.”
From Constantino Brumidi to Tho. U. Walter, September 8, 1862. “...I
herewith submit to you my design for the fresco picture to be painted on
the Canopy of the New Dome of the United States Capitol. The six groups
around the border represent, as you will see, War, Science, Navigation,
Commerce, Manufacture and Agriculture. The leading figures will measure
some 15 feet. In the center is an apotheosis of Washington surrounded by
allegorical figures of eminent men of the times of Washington, which
latter will be likenesses.
“As this picture will be seen at a height of 180 ft. the painting must
be of the most decided character possible. It will cover 4664 sq. ft.
and will be worth $50,000 to execute it including the necessary cartoons
and every expense pertaining to the painting.”
From Tho. U. Walter to Constantino Brumidi, December 24, 1862. “Your
letter of the 8th of September was duly received, together with your
design for the proposed picture in fresco, for the canopy over the eye
of the New Dome of the United States Capitol. The design meets my entire
approval. It has also the approval of Major B. B. French, the
Commissioner of Public Buildings. I sent it to the residence of the Hon.
Caleb B. Smith, the Secretary of the Interior, where it has been for
several weeks. Mr. Smith also expresses himself entirely satisfied with
the design. I am therefore free to give it my official approval with but
one condition and that is that you will consent to execute it at a
greatly reduced cost.
“I am aware, as you have expressed to me in conversation that there is
no picture in the world that will compare with this in magnitude and in
difficulty of execution, being painted on a concave surface, and I am
also aware that it covers about eight times more surface than Mr.
Lentze’s picture which cost $20,000. But in view of the exigencies of
the times I do not consider that we would be justified in expending so
large a sum as $50,000.
“Should you execute this work it will be the great work of your life: it
will therefore be worth on your part some sacrifice to accomplish so
great an achievement....”
From Constantino Brumidi to Tho. U. Walter, December 27, 1862: “...I
have come to the conclusion to expedite a settlement as to the price of
the painting to be executed on the canopy over the eye of the Dome of
the United States Capitol by reducing my offer to $40,000, which is
lower, considering the subject, the curved form of the surface on which
it is to be painted and the square feet of painting it contains than any
real fresco picture ever painted....”
From Tho. U. Walter to B. B. French, “Distributing Agent of United
States Capitol,” December 29, 1862: “...I consider the price ($40,000)
exceedingly low in view of the fact that it contains 4664 square feet,
that it is all to be painted on a curved surface, and that Mr. Brumidi
is the only real fresco painter in this country capable of executing the
work. The design is probably the grandest and most imposing that has
ever been executed in the world and Mr. Brumidi has proved by his real
frescoes in the Capitol extension (all of which were painted by his own
hand) that he is fully equal to the task. The grandeur of this picture,
the great distance at which it will be seen, and the peculiarity of its
light will render it intensely imposing.”
From B. B. French to Tho. U. Walter, January 5, 1863: “...as there is
confessedly no artist in the United States, capable of executing a real
fresco painting as it should be done, especially so important a work as
the one in contemplation, except Mr. Brumidi, and, as we know from
experience his excellence in that art, I do not see how we can do
otherwise than employ him....”
From Tho. U. Walter to Constantino Brumidi, March 11, 1863. “...I have
the honor to inform you that your design for painting the Canopy over
the eye of the aforesaid new Dome is adopted. And, inasmuch as Congress
has made the appropriation for the completion of that work you are
hereby authorized to proceed at once with the aforesaid canopy
painting....”
Two letters, one from the Department of the Interior to the Capitol
Dispensing Agent and the other from the Architect of the Capitol to the
Department of the Interior should be quoted at this time as they verify
amounts paid the artist and the length of time used in the actual
painting of the Dome canopy.
From J. P. Usher, Secretary of Interior, dated Nov. 6, 1863.
“...$10,000, one fourth the entire cost of the work (for painting the
canopy over the eye of the new dome of the Capitol in real fresco), has
already been paid to Mr. Brumidi. I am of the opinion that the progress
which has been made does not justify any further payments at present.
You will therefore suspend any advances to Mr. Brumidi until further
orders.”
From Thomas U. Walter, Architect U. S. Capitol, dated December 3, 1864.
“As the canopy for the picture over the eye of the new dome is ready for
Mr. Brumidi and as he is now about to commence to work, I deem it proper
to say that he has not received any payment on account of his contract
since November 6, 1863, and that in the interim he has been occupied in
perfecting the full-size cartoons, which are now ready for the work. I,
therefore, respectfully recommend that payments to him be resumed in
accordance with his contract and that they be continued as the work
progresses until he shall have received the aggregate sum of $30,000,
after which no further payments to be made until the work is completed
and approved.”
In the Annual Report dated November 1, 1865, of Edward Clark, Architect
of the Capitol (1865-1902), we find reference to the completion of the
canopy:
“The picture over the eye of the Dome is all painted in, but the artist
is unwilling to have the scaffolding removed until the plastering is
thoroughly dry and the picture toned. As it will at times be viewed by
gas light, he wishes to have the opportunity of trying it by this light
before dismissing it from his hands.”
The following report by Edward Clark written in longhand to the
Secretary of the Interior and dated November 1, 1866, is preserved in
the National Archives:
“The fresco picture over the eye of the Dome has been exposed to view by
taking away the scaffolding. It is not, however, finished as the artist
intends to soften down the harshness at the joinings of the plastering.
He was under the impression that these imperfections would disappear
when the surface became dry. He holds himself in readiness to do the
proper toning and blending whenever the scaffolding is in place for the
painting of vault of the Rotunda.
“I would call attention to the necessity of ornamenting the ‘Belt’
between the second and third cornices of the Rotunda. The original
intention was to enrich this member in basso-relievo, but it is deemed
advisable to have it painted in fresco in imitation of basso-relievo.
Mr. Brumidi has submitted a design for its embellishment in this manner
consisting of a series of natural pictures arranged in a chronological
order. It is hoped this subject may receive attention, and that his
design may be adapted or modified or other designs invited for this
decoration from artists of acknowledged merit.”
Brumidi was sixty years old at the completion of this Dome Canopy. He
had made 4,664 square feet of fresco in eleven months’ time on the inner
surface of the Capitol’s Dome. This Canopy is 65 feet in diameter, has a
concavity of 21 feet and displays its heroic figures as life-size from
the floor of the Rotunda, 180 feet below.
The artist called this painting on the Dome canopy “The Apotheosis of
Washington.” The outstanding figure is that of our first President
attended by Liberty and Victory. Circling the center of the canopy are
thirteen female figures in draperies of pastel beauty, bearing a
ribbon-like banner which displays our treasured motto, “E Pluribus
Unum.” The colors increase in brilliance and depth toward the outer
borders of the canopy, blending finally into the intense hues of the six
heroic groups about the base.
In these groups we find Minerva, Goddess of Arts and Sciences, as the
center of her allegorical group; Ceres, of Agriculture; Mercury,
messenger of the Gods, symbolizing Commerce; Vulcan, the God of
Mechanics; Neptune, God of the Marine, and Armed Liberty with shield and
sword, symbolizing War.
S. D. Wyeth says, “The fresco of Brumidi (on the canopy of the Dome)
arrests the gaze as though the sky had opened and it were permitted to
look into the beyond.” Wyeth, later, in referring to the same Dome
canopy described it in this way: “Clouds of gold, azure and rose seem
hanging there spanned by a rainbow, and, floating among them, forms of
exquisite beauty. Grand mythological figures, symbolizing Force and
Progress, appear there too, titanic, majestic--almost appalling with
their great significance.”
A letter from Architect Clark to Artist Brumidi, dated September 18,
1865, should be quoted in order to appreciate Brumidi’s reply one day
later:
“I learned in an interview with the Honorable Secretary of the Interior,
this morning, that he was very anxious to have the picture over the eye
of the Dome finished if possible by the meeting of Congress.
“You informed me when I first saw the work in relation to your July
bill, that it was your intention to get it done by that time, and I was
surprised to hear from you on Saturday morning last, that this was not
likely to be done. You stated that you were unwilling to have the
scaffoldings taken away before you had the advantage of trying it by gas
light. In this you are certainly right, and I have to inform you that
arrangements can be made to give you light whenever you need it.
“Please reply as to when it is likely you will have the picture done.”
Brumidi’s reply in which he tells of the final touches to this huge
fresco is still preserved. In this letter the old artist’s concern for
the proper finishing and lighting of his masterpiece is uppermost in his
thought. The letter follows:
Washington, Sept. 19, 1865
Mr. Clark, Architect of the
Capitol Extension
Dear Sir:
Your letter of yesterday was received and you will do a great favor
to me in referring to the Honorable Secretary of Interior, that
about my painting in the Canopy of the Dome, I am working at
present the last group, and for the next week I have finish to put
in color every figure upon the fresh mortar.
That remains to do for the completion of it will require only five
or six weeks, but must do it in the proper time, when the mortar
will be perfectly dry, and the colors do not have any more
changement.
This last work will cover the connections of the pieces of plaster,
put up in sections at every day, and giving more union to the
colors at the said junctions for to obtain the artistic effect.
It is the general rule in doing this kind of work to avoid the damp
atmosphere of the winter season, but I will do this last finish as
soon as the weather will permit, early in the spring, as always I
have done in every other painting in real fresco in the Capitol and
everywhere.
Also would be inadvisable to show that large painting without the
proper light, because the windows of the dome are in the rear part
of the painting and must be placed the reflectors already
calculated in the Capitol’s original plan.
I hope when the appropriation will be passed by the Congress the
said reflectors, and the gas apparatus will be completed, and I
will be ready for my part.
I am always at work but I ask only the bill of August last, and you
can assure the Honorable Secretary of the Interior that I never
will claim any other bill after this, till my work will be entirely
completed.
With respect I am
Your Obedient Servant
C. BRUMIDI
Apparently negotiations with Brumidi for painting the Dome fresco began
with the letter from Tho. U. Walter, “architect of extension and new
Dome,” dated August 18, 1862. Brumidi was authorized to proceed on March
11, 1863. On December 3, 1864, Tho. U. Walter wrote that the canopy for
the picture over the eye of the Dome was ready for the artist and that
Mr. Brumidi was “about to commence to work.” On November 1, 1865, Edward
Clark, Architect of the Capitol, reported that the picture over the eye
of the Dome was all painted in but that Mr. Brumidi was unwilling to
have the scaffolding removed until the plastering was thoroughly dry and
the colors had no more “changement.”
On January 9, 1866, Edward Clark wrote the following letter to James
Harlan, Secretary of the Interior:
“I have the honor to state that we are now making preparations to take
down the scaffolding over the eye of the Dome to reveal Brumidi’s
picture. It becomes necessary to have some canvas, or other strong
material to place under the scaffolding to catch the dirt, etc., that
would otherwise fall to the floor of the Rotunda which might cause
inconvenience, perhaps accident.
“It is possible that some old sails might be borrowed from the Navy Yard
for that purpose, and I therefore respectfully ask that you make a
request to the Hon. Secretary of the Navy for the loan of such as may be
necessary for this purpose which will be returned as soon as this work
is done.”
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE ROOMS
On the walls of the Senate Military Committee Room--now one of the
Committee Rooms on Senate Appropriations--are to be found five large
frescoes, lunettes in shape, depicting scenes from American history.
These pictures are filled with action and American atmosphere and could
have been painted only by a lover of American liberty. The artist gave
these titles to his five American lunettes: “Boston Massacre,” “Battle
of Lexington,” “Death of General Wooster,” “Storming of Stony Point,”
and “Washington at Valley Forge.”
The frescoed ceiling in this Senate Committee Room is conventional in
design with victors’ wreaths, shields and other emblems of war
predominating. Here we have such outstanding color combinations as to
lead many Brumidi enthusiasts to vote this ceiling the Capitol’s best.
In this room also are six outstanding panels, rich in color and
different in design, displaying American arms of different periods.
Never were guns, pistols, sabers, tomahawks, and flintlock rifles
displayed with so much beauty and elegance--and the sword across the
shield in the center is said to be a copy of one owned by Washington.
(Keim attributes these panels to another Capitol artist.)
The north room used by the Senate Committee on Appropriations was
decorated for the old Senate Committee on Naval Affairs. The design is
that of a Pompeian fresco with marine gods and goddesses scattered about
the ceiling and with ancient porticoes and antique vessels adorning the
walls. Nine panels in oil with symbolic womanly figures in flowing robes
against dark blue backgrounds to represent various attributes of the
Navy finish the wall decorations.
On February 24, 1880, Senator Voorhees of Indiana referred to the
Brumidi decorations of these two rooms in these words:
“Almost every committee-room announces to the eye by historical or
allegorical paintings in fresco the duties to which it is dedicated. Who
ever passed through the room of the Committee on Military Affairs
without feeling that the very genius of heroism had left there its
immortal inspirations? Who would mistake in after ages the use to which
the room for the Committee on Naval Affairs had been devoted? The
painter has told the whole story in a silent but in an undying
language.”
An 1858 newspaper tells that the following statement was posted that
year in the Senate Committee Room on Naval Affairs for the “edification
of visitors”:
“_Senate Committee on Naval Affairs_--The decorative paintings of this
room are a specimen of the manner in which the ancient Greeks and Romans
ornamented their splendid buildings, some of which are still extant in
the precious monuments of Pompeii and the baths of Titus. America with
the sea divinities are painted on the ceiling in real fresco. These
mythological figures are delineated agreeably to the poetical
descriptions we have received of them, and they are Neptune, the god of
the seas, Amphitrite, his wife, Aeolus keeping the winds chained to the
rocks, Venus the daughter of the Sea, Oceanus with crampfish claws on
his head, Thetis, his wife, and Nereus, the father of the Nereids, drawn
by Glacus, and the Tritons by marine horses or swans, or else mounted as
sea-monsters.”
SENATE RECEPTION ROOM
Brumidi decorated also the reception room of the Senate where
constituents may still call upon their Senators--and admire the ceiling
frescoes of the old artist. This room has a vaulted ceiling with two
arches. The circular arch has a frescoed center of children and clouds
with allegorical groupings about the center designed to represent
Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Strength portrayed as beautiful
madonnas with pink cheeked children. Four allegorical scenes in the
groined arch hold forth Liberty, Plenty, War, and Peace, in the purity
of other madonna-like groupings.
The walls of the Senate Reception Room have many empty and unfinished
panels but the “elaborate ornaments and gilded mouldings around them”
lend their own beauty to this room. The outstanding Brumidi work in the
Senate Reception Room is a large centerpiece in oil on the south wall
showing George Washington in consultation with Thomas Jefferson and
Alexander Hamilton. At either side, according to Brumidi, are
“decorative figures in light and shade (chiaroscuro).” The old voucher
of 1873, signed by Brumidi, and indicating the sum paid for this mural
in the Senate Reception Room, follows:
“For approximate estimate for painting portraits of Washington,
Jefferson and Hamilton on the walls of the Senate Reception
Room--$500.00.”
Two of the Brumidi letters written in 1871 not only date the frescoes in
the Senate Reception Room and those in the Military Committee Room of
the Senate already described, but also name a lump sum paid the artist
for at least a part of this work. These two letters written to the
Architect of the Capitol Building and dated 1871 follow:
“In reply to your request about the completion of the decorative
figures in light and shade (chiaroscuro) at the three panels in the
reception room of the Senate according to that already painted in
the last year.
“Also for three more panels in the walls of the Senate Military
Committee room in real fresco with three battles of the American
Revolution, and many other small paintings above a door and at the
ceiling, for the completion of the ibid room, for the sum of
$5,300.”
C. BRUMIDI
New York City
“I read in the Herald the adjournment of the Congress and an extra
session of the Senate will meet again for the tenth of May.
“I think that in this present temporary recess, will be the time to
give orders to the plasterer to finish the panels in the Reception
Room, as the oil work will require the wall to be perfectly dry,
and of course three or four weeks. Every plasterer can do it smooth
like the others already painted.
“I am in attendance of your answer about it, and some information
of Senator Wilson’s decision on the subject, for the fresco of this
room, to prepare some sketch and cartoons.
“I am at work in St. Stephen’s Church and I wish to proceed with it
till you will call me for work in the Senate or if you think
necessary an excursion to fix this preparatory work or directions
to the plasterer.”
C. BRUMIDI
The 1871 letter quoted above, written from New York, is the only
reference in a Brumidi letter of the Brumidi file in the Architect’s
office to any painting of Brumidi’s outside of Washington. It seems to
have been proven, though, beyond a doubt that _The Crucifixion_ in St.
Stephen’s Church in New York is one of at least four such sacred
paintings. The picture of _Saint Peter_ and _Saint Paul_ was painted in
the Philadelphia Cathedral; _The Holy Trinity_ was done in the Cathedral
at Mexico City, and _The First Communion of Saint Aloysius_ was placed
above the altar in the old Saint Aloysius Church in Washington.
A study of the Saint Aloysius mural brought to light a letter written by
Brumidi in Italian to Father Sestini of Georgetown University back in
1855. Father Sestini is said to have been such a close friend of
Brumidi’s that the artist included the Father in his fresco of St.
Aloysius. This letter to Father Sestini, translated by Father Geib of
Georgetown University, is reproduced in its entirety, it being the only
communication found from Brumidi to a Father in the Catholic Church. The
letter to Father Sestini follows:
November 11, 1855
“I was displeased at not having been in my studios when you came to
talk to me about the painting to be done in Baltimore. Concerning
this, I shall be interested to know whether the Church has a flat
ceiling, since in that case the painting could be easily executed
on canvas, and later on, be placed against the said ceiling; this
being the only way I can actually do anything in the service of the
Society (of Jesus), since my contracted engagements for the Capitol
do not let me move away from Washington, having also to offer my
assistance to other artists of decorative painting and fresco, who
work under my direction.
“If, therefore, there would be room for a picture (frame), as large
as might be its size to be placed in the said way, I could paint it
in tempera and produce the same appearance of a fresco. This is all
I can promise in the circumstances in which now I am, and you would
not attribute the objections already expressed to a lack of good
will. Meanwhile, I profess myself entirely obliged for the favors I
have at all times received from the Society (of Jesus).
“I repeat myself respectfully your most obliged servant,
CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI”
A certain anonymous letter from the Brumidi file in the Architect’s
office at the Capitol should be quoted at this time. It was written on
April 8, 1857, addressed to Mr. Walter, Architect of the Capitol, and
shows Brumidi the target for more criticism. This crude and biased
letter is quoted in full:
[Illustration: MAIDENS OF THE NAVY
The unrolled map of ocean shoreline, the compass, and the telescope
carried by the Maidens of the Navy, advance the naval theme in the old
Senate Committee Room on Naval Affairs. Seven other such panels of
exquisite design and color complete the wall decorations of this room.
The simulated pillars with seaweed carvings and pearl ornaments are as
deceptive as the sea shell cornucopias on the ledge at the pillars’
base. All are painted in oil on a flat surface of dry plaster.]
“The protegé and a kind of informer of Cap’t. Meigs, an Italian painter,
Brumidi, paid $6 daily by Government, did three pictures for the
churches of New York and in Georgetown and for which he received a good
pay in hours and during the time which he had no right to dispose of....
His friend is paid too for the thing that he does not understand nor he
attends to, yet all this is allowed and tolerated. What do you say about
it? Shall we make public notice in papers or will you attend to it?”
SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE ROOM
Brumidi painted four large, bronze-colored medallions on the walls of
this room, each medallion recording the profile of a noted chairman of
the Foreign Relations Committee.
On the north wall is Henry Clay of Kentucky who served the Committee as
chairman from 1834 to 1836. On the south wall is William S. Allen of
Ohio, Committee chairman from 1845 to 1846. The east wall portrays Simon
E. Cameron of Pennsylvania, who was chairman from 1871 to 1877, while on
the west wall is Charles W. Sumner of Massachusetts, chairman from 1861
to 1871.
The voucher paying Brumidi for this work, dated June 21, 1874, reads as
follows:
“For painting four medallion portraits in the Committee Room of Foreign
Affairs, United States Senate, @ $50 each--$200.”
SENATE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COMMITTEE ROOMS
Two of these Senate Annex rooms, the District of Columbia Committee
Rooms, have unusual frescoed ceilings--that of the larger room being
equal in workmanship to that of the President’s Room. Since this large
Committee Room was originally set apart as a Senate Library the
groupings were chosen with that in mind, for there the artist has
represented Geography, History, Physics, and Telegraph. In each group is
the Brumidi Madonna and the artist’s distinctive cherubs. The walls of
this room were never finished but the ceiling colors are as brilliant
today as though painted yesterday.
In the files of the Architect of the Capitol is to be found a collection
of original Brumidi letters. Among these are two referring to the
Library decorations, both written in 1858--one by a draughtsman,
Johannes Oertel, to Mr. Brumidi, and one by Mr. Brumidi to Captain
Meigs, then superintendent of Capitol construction. The old artist
apparently bothered not to answer ridicule and art criticism but a
“direct reproach” on the discharge of his duty did not go unchallenged.
The two letters follow:
From Mr. Oertel to Mr. Brumidi:
“With much surprise I learned that last Saturday you had commenced to
paint the ceiling at the Senate Library. This room, as you are aware,
was assigned to me by Capt. Meigs. I had consequently made preparation
to begin it, and have spent much time in doing so. The work is now
useless, and my labor in vain.
“Common courtesy should have induced you to consult me before beginning
yourself. I cannot conceive the propriety of your taking work out of my
hands, to which by commission I was fairly entitled. I must regard it as
an unjust interference with my rights, which rights I shall endeavor in
the future to guard from invasion.”
From Mr. Brumidi to Capt. Meigs:
“On the 26th of April 1858, I received from Mr. Oertel the enclosed
letter, which is very remarkable for the injurious sentiments it
contains.
“I remember very well our conversation
[Illustration: HISTORY
This Brumidi color lunette in the District of Columbia Committee Room of
the Senate, a part of that room’s frescoed ceiling, was given the name
“History” by the artist. All paintings in this room were done with the
thought of a decorative motif for a Senate Library. The allegory in this
lunette might suggest Young America writing her history, confident and
undisturbed either by war or time. If this room has a Brumidi signature
it has not yet been found.]
that you had invited a draughtsman to come to Washington to help me with
my cartoons. Some days after, in the beginning of last year (1857), Mr.
Oertel presented himself and told me he was the artist intended to
assist me with my designs. I inquired of him if he could paint. He
answered no, that he was only a draughtsman. In proof of this assertion
he showed to me an oil painting of small dimension, representing the
head of St. Paul. Such was his only experiment in coloring.
“After this I gave him the measure of six circles on the pilasters in
the Navy Room, to make a corresponding number of portraits of celebrated
men in the American Navy, intending to paint them myself. After that day
I did not again see Mr. Oertel, because he had received orders from you
to make the designs for the stained glass in the House of
Representatives. In consequence of which order I could not have his
services. I have never yet received the designs for the aforesaid
portraits, therefore, I made them myself, also the cartoons for my other
work, intending to execute them when the weather was favorable.
“Not being able to work in the room of the Committee of War, as it is at
present occupied, nor in the ante-chamber of the Senate as there are
many workmen employed there, I commenced in the Senate Library _not
having received any information that the frescoes there were intended
for Mr. Oertel_ nor could I think that an artist who himself has
confessed that he had no practice in painting could think of executing
pictures in fresco which is undoubtedly the most difficult of all
varieties of painting.
“If for about fifteen months Mr. Oertel had been under your immediate
orders, I could not again employ him without a new order from you,
notwithstanding I have only painted one panel in the Library, and if you
desire that Mr. Oertel shall make his first experiment in fresco in the
aforesaid room, there still remain three vacant panels.
“In everything concerning the work in the Capitol Extension, it is my
duty to receive orders and whatsoever observations may be needed only
from you. So that I pray you please to make known to Mr. Oertel that
neither he nor any other person has authority to send me such an
insolent letter, containing as it does a direct reproach on the
discharge of my duty, and I consider he has done me a serious injury.”
Although this Senate Library was begun by Brumidi in 1858 it would seem
that only one lunette was finished at that time and that negotiations
for its completion were again resumed on August 12, 1866, when Mr.
Brumidi wrote the following letter to Architect Clark itemizing the
completion costs:
“...The three panels in the ceiling, painted in real fresco
representing allegorical subjects, corresponding to the original plan,
and to the other already painted by myself, for $1,500 each, making an
amount of $4,500--and 500 dollars more for painting all the figures and
ornaments in the same ceiling in correspondence with the others, making
a total cost of $5,000.
“The enclosed account at the old price of daily wages was presented by
me to put under consideration what would have been the cost of the work
if it had been completed six years ago. The mentioned persons, Peruchi
and Geier were employed expressly one to help me as an artist, and the
other to serve me in preparing the cartoons, the colors, and to assist
me in my private studio as well as in the Capitol, and they having
nothing to do with the plasterer who fixes the mortar in the wall,
always furnished by the government.”
Architect Clark’s reply a few days later was short and to the point, “I
do not consider there is three times as much to do as has already been
done.”
Brumidi painted in the Capitol Building throughout the entire war
between the States. In the little ante-room of the Senate District of
Columbia Committee Room, originally the office of the Sergeant at Arms
of the Senate, is his only effort to picture that conflict. This small
room has four allegorical designs painted about its upper walls and one
large fresco in the center of the ceiling. This fresco is signed, “C.
Brumidi, 1876,” and represents “Columbia Welcoming the South Back into
the Union.”
On the east wall is “Secession”--the breaking of the fasces, and the
rival products of the North and South; on the south wall is war and
strife; on the north wall the implements of war are exchanged for those
of peace, while on the west wall the fasces are again united with the
words “E Pluribus Unum.”
These two Senate Committee Rooms present a great contrast in brilliancy
of color. The somber tone of the smaller room might be due to its date
of execution, it having been finished only four years before the
artist’s death. The larger room is said to have had a bit of restoration
at one time during the two restoration periods that some of the Brumidi
frescoes have had in the Capitol.
Charles Ayer Whipple was employed in 1919 to restore some of the Brumidi
paintings especially in the basement corridors in the Senate Annex. This
artist is recorded to have said at that time, “The Brumidi decorations
are second to none in the whole world.” In 1921 Charles E. Moberly also
did some restoration of Brumidi paintings but his work was chiefly in
the House Committee Room where a fire had marred the side walls, and in
the Reception room of the Senate where a bomb explosion in the early
days of World War I damaged the walls and ceiling.
GROUND FLOOR CORRIDORS SENATE EXTENSION
The Senate Appropriations Committee Rooms earlier referred to are
entered from the West Corridor on the ground floor of the Senate
Extension. Above the door leading into these Committee Rooms is the
Brumidi fresco of Bellona, the Roman goddess of War, with her stacked
guns, flag-draped cannon and silent drum and trumpets at her feet. This
West Corridor with vaulted ceiling is elaborately decorated in 15th
Century style, thought to have been inspired by the Loggia of Raphael in
the Vatican at Rome, that portion of the Vatican at one time said to
have been restored by Brumidi. In the Capitol’s West Corridor are
studies of birds, butterflies and children. Among the humming birds,
cardinals, bluejays, and robins are 13 exquisite landscapes and
inimitable medallion profiles of John Hancock, Francis Hopkinson, Robert
Livingston, Roger Sherman, John Jay, Charles Thompson, Charles Carroll
and Robert Morris. In a special ceiling design are the twelve signs of
the zodiac in fields of Pompeian blue.
Senator Voorhees made the following appreciative reference to Brumidi’s
West Corridor designs:
“The poetry of the artist, if I may so express it, had also its field of
display. To one who recalls the great forests of the West before they
were swept away, the birds and the specimens of American animals with
which he has adorned a portion of this Capitol must be a source of
unceasing enjoyment. The birds especially are all there, from the
humming-bird at an open flower to the bald eagle with his fiery eye and
angry feathers. I have been told that the aged artist loved these birds
as a father loves his children and that he often lingered in their midst
as if a strong tie bound him to them.”
The North Corridor is equally as colorful as the West Corridor. Here we
find painted on the walls, parrots and quail, lizards and chipmunks,
squirrels and mice in their own habitat and color, midst every kind of
flower and fruit imaginable. Children dance about the trailing arbutus,
lilies of the valley, morning glories, columbine, bleeding hearts and
peonies. Panels adorned with clusters and baskets of fruit--purple
grapes, pineapples, peaches, plums, currants and cherries help to frame
medallion profiles of Daniel Morgan, Jonathan Trumbull, Horatio Gates,
Israel Putnam, Thomas Mifflin, Silas Deane, Richard Montgomery, Joseph
Warren, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.
In this corridor also are two large frescoes above other Committee room
doors. “The Cession of Louisiana,” picturing Livingston, Monroe and
Barbe-Marbois in the act of negotiating the Louisiana purchase, is at
the west end of this corridor. At the east end of this corridor is “The
Signing of the First Treaty of Peace with Great Britain in 1782” in
which likenesses of Richard Oswald, John Adams, Henry Laurens, John Jay
and Benjamin Franklin are portrayed.
A voucher, signed by Brumidi, and dated November 11, 1874, has been
found referring to this treaty picture:
“For painting in Fresco over the entrance of the room of the Committee
of Foreign Affairs, the picture of the Signing of the First Treaty with
Great Britain--$600.”
On the upper walls of the Patent Corridor at the extreme east end of the
North Corridor are large frescoes of Fulton and his invention on the
Hudson, Fitch working on a steamboat model, and Franklin in his
laboratory, while the ceiling displays many small designs of patents
important to the American people. Roses of all colors, conventionalized
or in tall graceful vases, predominate in this corridor decoration.
Brumidi is reported to have said that his “Palisades of the Hudson” in
the Robert Fulton fresco were not strong enough in perspective and that
he hoped some day to have time to strengthen that portion of his
painting.
A Brumidi voucher dated November 28, 1873, helps to verify the fact that
the Fulton painting is a fresco:
“For painting in fresco the picture of Robert Fulton in the Senate wing,
in the passage in front of the room of the Committee on Patents--$500.”
The Main Corridor on the ground floor of the Senate Extension is said to
follow the Byzantine style of decoration with subdued backgrounds that
display to perfection 14 more oval-shaped landscapes of marvelous depth
and beauty. At the extreme north end of the corridor are the profile
portraits of Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay, large frescoes of Justice
Story and Chancellor Kent and a
[Illustration: THREE GRACES
Four such groups of Graces in varying attitudes and color combinations
are used by Brumidi as corner motives on the frescoed ceiling of the
District of Columbia Committee Room of the Senate. So delicately
beautiful are the pastel shades in the maidens’ drapery that the studies
of graces are equally as popular as the lunettes which they separate.
Again, all frames and intricate moldings are painted on a smooth ceiling
surface. The working sketch for these Graces is reproduced in black and
white on page 79.]
bust of Chancellor Livingstone executed in imitation sculpture.
Two vouchers signed by Brumidi and dated August 24, 1874, fix the date,
price and style of painting in the north end of this main corridor:
“For painting bust in light and shade of Chancellor Livingston at north
end of basement story--$100.”
“For painting in fresco the portraits of Justice Story and Chancellor
Kent at north end of basement story--$400.”
There is also a South Corridor on this ground floor of the Senate
Extension done in the same subdued Byzantine style with eight large
studies of animals in oval frames painted in oil on the walls and eight
other ovals of the same size displaying in each the United States
shield.
Two facts concerning Brumidi disturb us at this point in some such way
as Smith D. Fry evidently was disturbed back in 1912 when he wrote his
“Story of the Capitol.” Mr. Fry apparently satisfied his own wonder in
these words:
“Many people inquire how it was possible for Brumidi to accomplish such
an enormous amount of art work. The great designer and decorator
prepared his colors according to methods known only to himself. They
were mixed or triturated by employees under Brumidi’s direction. Leslie
and others covered the walls with backgrounds, under Brumidi’s
direction. Other near artists made outlines, according to directions of
the tireless worker. But all of the artistic work was finished by the
hand of the matchless Brumidi himself. That the name of Brumidi and the
story of his wonderful work have not been known to the American people
is not due to lack of appreciation but to the fact that there has been
no one with time and acquaintance with his work to tell the people about
it.”
CAPITOL ROTUNDA
On the frieze of the Rotunda Brumidi did his last work in the Capitol
Building. This frieze is a belt nine feet wide which circles the Rotunda
58 feet from the floor. The Rotunda is 300 feet in circumference. On
October 1, 1877, the Architect of the Capitol gave the following report,
“The belt of the Rotunda intended to be enriched with basso relievos is
being embellished in real fresco representing in light and shadow events
in our history arranged in chronological order, begining with the
Landing of Columbus and ending with a period of our Revolutionary
history to be decided later.”
According to Brumidi’s signed statement of 1874, earlier quoted, “That
large frieze in the Rotunda was sketched by order of Captain Meigs
before the war,” but the artist was 72 years old before he actually was
allowed to begin painting the frieze in the difficult Rotunda location.
He had in mind fifteen historical scenes planned to cover fifteen
divisions of the frieze and from his file of letters we know how
desperately he worked to finish these frescoes before sickness should
compel him to lay aside his brush. The following four short letters to
the Architect of the Capitol during Brumidi’s last months show the
heroic effort made by the artist to complete his frieze:
Washington, D. C., October 15, 1878
“I have returned at home, having improved enough and I am
translating in large proportion the cartoon of Pocahontas, and if
Monday the plasterer is ready to proceed with the panel of DeSoto I
desire to go on in that work, if my health will permit me, as I
hope.”
C. BRUMIDI
Washington, D. C., December 27, 1878
“In this very cold weather I am compelled to suspend the work in
the Rotunda where
[Illustration: WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE
Another lunette painted by Brumidi high on the walls of the old Senate
Committee Room on Military Affairs was named by Brumidi, “Washington at
Valley Forge.” This portrayal of our Revolutionary General was evidently
painted with these words of Washington in mind: “We have this day no
less than 2,873 men in camp unfit for duty because they are barefooted
and otherwise naked ... numbers are still obliged to sit all night by
fires.” (December 23, 1777.) Could the two soldiers with Washington be
Brumidi’s conception of Baron Steuben and Lafayette?]
the heating is not enough to prevent the frost at the surface of
the mortar, that does not remain soft long enough upon the wall for
absorbing the colors till the piece of the day would be completed,
causing injury to the work; for this reason I ask the permission to
suspend the fresco work for some weeks until the weather will be
not so cold.
“I am proceeding with the cartoon of The Landing of the Pilgrims,
where I have no need of the laborer’s assistance.”
C. BRUMIDI
Orkney Springs, August 11, 1879
“In the month of July you agreed to my request to draw the cartoons
in my studio.
“A short time before I was attacked by the asthma and finding no
relief, was advised to leave the City by Dr. Thompson, and decided
to come here. I suffered only during the night which was very
fortunate as it permitted me to work in the day. I have completed
three cartoons representing the treaty of William Penn and
Settlement of New England which comprises two cartoons. I have
brought one with me on which I work every day. I find the air a
great benefit to me, the water also and expect to be able to
continue the Fresco very soon.”
C. BRUMIDI
Washington, D. C., August 18, 1879
“Saturday 16th I returned in the city, and ready to proceed with
the work in fresco (with your permission). Three cartoons are near
completed. I am improved in the general health, that was the object
of my trip and not for the pleasure.”
C. BRUMIDI
[Illustration: LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS
Of the fifteen historical groups planned by Brumidi for the frescoed
frieze encircling the Rotunda, the “Landing of the Pilgrims” is the one
in which the attitude of prayer predominates. This frieze is 9 feet wide
and 58 feet from the Rotunda floor. Brumidi was 72 years old when he
began its execution but he had drawn the plans probably twenty years
earlier.]
But this last task he set for himself was too great. Of the fifteen
scenes Brumidi planned, he finished the following six: _Landing of
Columbus, 1492_; _Entry of Cortez into Mexico, 1521_; _Pizarro’s
Conquest of Peru, 1533_; _Midnight Burial of DeSoto, 1541_; _Pocahontas
saving John Smith, 1606_; _Landing of the Pilgrims, 1620_.
[Illustration: PENN’S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS
The seventh group, chronologically, on the Rotunda frieze is “Penn’s
Treaty with the Indians.” It follows the “Landing of the Pilgrims” in
Brumidi’s design. It was while working on this group that Brumidi fell
on the scaffolding and was never able to return. The three Indians at
the right were left unfinished, the lighter background marking the spot
from which Brumidi fell.]
The artist had the seventh scene, _Penn’s Treaty with the Indians,
1682_, more than half finished when he fell from the suspended chair
from which he worked and was forced to hang by his arms from a ladder
until workmen made the rescue. The last few months of his life he worked
at his studio on the frieze cartoons. Edward Clark, Architect of the
Capitol, makes reference to the unfinished frieze in his Report of
October 1, 1880. Said he at that time, “But little progress has been
made on the frescoes of the belt in the Dome, owing to the illness and
death of the late Constantino Brumidi. Philip Costaggini, an artist of
acknowledged merit, educated in the same school as the former artist, is
now engaged on these frescoes.” One year later, however, on October 1,
1881, Mr. Clark made the following report:
“Mr. Costaggini has painted in fresco on the belt of the Rotunda the
“Settlement of New England,” “Oglethorpe and the Indians,” left
unfinished by Mr. Brumidi, and he is now engaged on the “Reading of the
Declaration of Independence.” It is proper to state here, that Mr.
Brumidi made the designs for these sections only in small size and Mr.
Costaggini has had to make the eight remaining full size cartoons.”
When Mr. Costaggini finished the work of executing the Brumidi designs
on the Rotunda frieze he had space enough left to accommodate two
compositions of his own choosing. Since his designs were never
sanctioned by Congress, Mr. Costaggini died in 1907 leaving an
unfinished frieze.
A third artist, Charles Ayer Whipple, was employed in 1918 at daily
wages to restore some of Brumidi’s paintings on the walls of the Ground
Floor Corridors at the Capitol and to make a sample painting on the
unfinished frieze. This trial painting he called “The Spirit of 1917.”
The Committee charged with final decisions concerning the frieze at that
time decided against Whipple’s further effort.
In 1925 Mr. Whipple referred to his frieze painting in a letter to the
Architect of the Capitol, a portion of which follows:
“As you know I painted a group of figures in the frieze with the
permission of the Library Committee, to prove that I understood the
ancient method of Fresco painting, that is, the method of Michelangelo
in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The frieze is painted in that method and
of course must be completed in the mode of the great Italian Master,
that of “lime painting on wet plaster.” Mr. Whipple died in 1928. The
frieze is still unfinished and still of current interest.
On August 17, 1950, the President of the United States signed a Joint
Resolution, H. J. Res. 21, “To provide for the utilization of the
unfinished portion of the historical frieze in the Rotunda of the
Capitol to portray (1) the Civil War, (2) the Spanish-American War, and
(3) the birth of aviation in the United States.”
Each new effort to finish the Rotunda Frieze is a testimony to the
artist, Brumidi, and to his inimitable work. Should an artist well
schooled in the Italian fresco process not be found to finish the frieze
it is the author’s thought that the problem might be solved by adorning
the blank portion of the Rotunda belt with a memorial inscription to
Constantino Brumidi.
[Illustration]
Color Reproductions
OF
Brumidi Frescoes
in the United States Capitol
[Illustration: BRUMIDI’S FRESCOED CANOPY IN THE EYE OF THE DOME
The Dome Canopy as here pictured was photographed from the exact center
of the Rotunda, 180 feet below. Unavoidably, the balcony around the Eye
of the Dome hides the outer portion of all six allegorical groups. In
order to make individual “close-ups” of these groups our photographer
went to the top balcony of the Dome at night, carrying his own lighting
equipment. His six kodachromes, each made at a distance of 65 feet, the
diameter of the Dome at this point, follow:
(S. D. Wyeth’s six-page booklet, printed in 1866, gives the “Description
of Brumidi’s Allegorical Painting within the Canopy of the Rotunda.”
Since Brumidi finished this canopy in 1865 we may reasonably suppose
that Wyeth’s interpretations came directly from the artist. For this
reason Wyeth’s own legends are quoted on the following six pages.)]
[Illustration: AGRICULTURE
“CERES, the Goddess of Harvests and the Fields, with the Horn of Plenty,
is in the center. _Young America_, with Liberty Cap, of red, the _bonnet
rouge_ of France, having under his control a pair of vigorous horses
hitched to an American Reaper, in conscious pride is exhibiting his
skill. The background is a luxuriant mass of prolific vegetation.
_Flora_ is gathering flowers, and, hovering near, is a cherub. Beyond is
_Pomona_ with a basket of fruit.”
WYETH--1866]
[Illustration: MECHANICS
“VULCAN, the old stalwart Tubal Cain of Grecian mythology, is the
colossal genius of this group. His right foot rests on a cannon.
Machinery, forges, mortars, and cannon balls, strewn around, remind us
of forging thunderbolts, as well as of combat with, and victory over,
the giant forces of nature, and making them subservient to human will
and purposes.”
WYETH--1866]
[Illustration: COMMERCE
“MERCURY, the Protector of Travellers and Merchants, holds in his hand a
bag of gold, to which he is directing the attention of _Robert Morris_,
the Financier of the American Revolution. It was he who guided to a
successful issue the entangled pecuniary embarrassments of our country
in its struggle for independence. Alas! for himself, he died a bankrupt,
and in confinement for debt. Boxes of merchandise, and bales of goods,
with men at work among them, are to be seen. Two sailors point to a
gunboat in the distance.”--WYETH--1866]
[Illustration: MARINE
“NEPTUNE, in marine state, bearing his trident, in his car, accompanied
by his charioteer and attendants, is emerging astonished from the deep.
The beautiful Aphrodite (Venus), born of the sea foam, half risen from
the waves, holds in her hand the Atlantic cable, given her by a winged
cherub, and is about dropping it into the sea.”--WYETH--1866]
[Illustration: ARTS AND SCIENCES
“MINERVA, the Goddess of Wisdom, stands gloriously prominent, with
helmet and spear, as she springs, full grown, from the brain of Jupiter.
In meek attitudes, but with glowing faces, attentive to her teachings,
are Benjamin Franklin, Printer and Philosopher, Robert Fulton, of
Steamboat renown, and S. F. B. Morse, the generally acknowledged
inventor of the Magnetic Telegraph. There are also boys, with wondering
eyes, and expressive gestures, listening to the instructions of a school
teacher.”--WYETH--1866]
[Illustration: WAR
“FREEDOM, terrible in vengeance, with upraised sword, is striking down
Tyranny and Kingly Power. They are overcome, and flee from her wrath in
dismay; with them is Anger, and also Vengeance and Discord bearing the
incendiary torch. An angry Eagle, striking with his beak, is fighting
for, and by the side of, Freedom.”
“WASHINGTON, the Savior of his Country, apotheosized, appears seated in
majesty. On his right is the Goddess of Liberty, and on his left is a
winged idealization of Victory and Fame, sounding a trumpet, and in
triumph displaying the victor’s palm. Forming a semicircle are thirteen
female figures, representing the thirteen States.”--WYETH--1866]
[Illustration: THOMAS JEFFERSON
Of the five portraits in color of Washington’s first cabinet, painted by
Brumidi on the walls of the President’s room, that of Thomas Jefferson
is considered by many to be the most lifelike. Brumidi gave Jefferson
the favored location beneath the portrait of George Washington, thus
bestowing honor on the Secretary of State, the highest ranking Cabinet
officer. The delicate graceful carvings of the picture frame are another
Brumidi delusion. Both the portrait and the frame are painted in oil on
dry plaster. Mr. Fairman suggests that there is enough resemblance
between the Brumidi Jefferson and the Trumbull Jefferson in _the
Declaration of Independence_ in the Rotunda “upon which to base a theory
that Brumidi was at least influenced by the work of Trumbull.”]
[Illustration: WASHINGTON-JEFFERSON-HAMILTON
Brumidi was paid $500 for this mural of Washington-Jefferson-Hamilton on
the south wall of the Senate Reception Room as indicated by an 1873
voucher. Portions of two empty medallions showing in this reproduction
beyond the “decorative figures in light and shade (chiaroscuro)” remind
us of Brumidi’s sorrowful words in 1874: “Now many panels remain empty,
disfiguring the elaborate ornaments and gilded mouldings around them,
which sooner or later must be completed.”]
[Illustration: WASHINGTON AT YORKTOWN
This Cornwallis-Washington mural on the wall of the House of
Representatives Chamber was criticized in 1857 as “unsuited to halls of
deliberation where calm thought and unimpassioned reason are supposed to
reside.” For architectural reasons, however, the painting will presently
be removed from the House Chamber to a spot more accessible to ardent
friends of Brumidi. On the strap of the brief case, lower right, is the
famous Brumidi signature, “C. Brumidi, artist. Citizen of the U. S.”
(Brumidi’s Dome Canopy signature can be found on page 52.)]
[Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Brumidi’s choice of Benjamin Franklin as an American statesman to
represent “History” in the decorative scheme of the frescoed ceiling of
the President’s Room is appropriate. It may be that one of the half
dozen sheets of parchment shown in the picture is meant to represent the
Declaration of Independence, and the five others to represent the
Constitution of the United States. Franklin helped to write both of
these immortal documents. It has been said that Franklin is here at once
easily recognized since this picture contains “all the characteristics
of his many portraits and statues which are generally known.”]
[Illustration: STORMING OF STONY POINT
Of the five frescoed lunettes in the larger Appropriations Committee
Room of the Senate painted by Brumidi, the “Storming of Stony Point” is
probably the most colorful. A voucher signed by Brumidi and dated
October 19, 1871, reads, “For painting in fresco three panels in
Committee Room on Military Affairs, Senate Wing, U. S. Capitol, viz:
Washington at Valley Forge, Storming of Stony Point, Boston Massacre, @
$1000 each.” Said Senator Voorhees in 1880, “Who ever passed through the
room of the Committee on Military Affairs without feeling that the very
genius of heroism had left there its immortal inspirations.”]
[Illustration: TELEGRAPH
The laying of the Atlantic cable, with its great significance, has been
painted by Brumidi into two Capitol frescoes. “Telegraph” is Brumidi’s
own title for this lunette painted as a part of the ceiling fresco in
the District of Columbia Committee Room of the Senate. The beauty,
freedom, and plenty of America extending a welcome across the seas, as
here portrayed, was always in the heart of the artist. The working
sketch for this lunette was among the Brumidi paintings stored in a
Washington bank vault for forty years.]
[Illustration: LEGISLATION
One of four Madonnas from the frescoed ceiling of the President’s Room,
Senate Annex.]
The Artist’s Compensation
Preserved today in the Capitol’s Brumidi file is a statement signed by
Brumidi in 1874, but written in the third person “Relative to his
Employment at the Capitol.” A portion of that statement follows:
“At one time Brumidi was employed in decorating the Capitol at the same
compensation allowed Congressmen, and when that compensation was
increased that benefit was also extended to him. At the breaking out of
the Civil War Captain Meigs was promoted, and all the work at the
Capitol was suspended but Senator Foot, Chairman of the Senate Committee
on Public Buildings and Grounds, as an exception retained Brumidi at
work, and placed his name on the roll of the Senate official employees.
“After the war some paintings were completed under the orders of the
Secretary of the Interior, and the Committee on Public Buildings and
Grounds, executed by contract under the control of the Architect of the
Capitol, but many long interruptions occurred, and much valuable time
was lost for want of available appropriations.
“Now many panels remain empty, disfiguring the elaborate ornaments and
gilded mouldings around them, which sooner or later must be completed;
also that large frieze in the Rotunda sketched by order of Captain Meigs
before the war, and intended to represent the history of the country.
“The artist Brumidi humbly proposes to proceed with the work on the
economical system of daily wages as the only manner to avoid the
inconvenience of interruptions for want of available appropriations.”
Known evidence seems to indicate that Brumidi died poor. This has led
many to believe that the Government of the United States did not pay him
sufficiently for his services. Even George C. Hazelton stated in 1903,
“The late artist’s designs (for the frieze) were promptly appropriated
without remuneration to his family for the thought and labor which they
contained.” Were it not for the fact, already quoted, from the Report of
the Architect of the Capitol for October 1, 1881, that the designs for
these sections of the frieze were left by Brumidi only in small size and
that Mr. Costaggini had to make the full sized cartoons, we might not
recognize Hazelton’s error of statement.
It is well to remember that Mr. Brumidi was working on a per diem basis
($10.00 a day) during the last few years of his life when his labors
were interrupted by sickness. It is well to remember also that the
artist worked for $8.00 per day during the years 1855 and 1856. During
1857, 1858, 1859, 1860, and part of 1861, he worked also on a per diem
basis, but at a salary of $10.00 per day. Monthly vouchers for these
years, averaging about two hundred sixty dollars per month and signed
“C. Brumidi,” are preserved today by the Architect’s office. In fact,
most of the money paid the artist by the Government of the United States
during his twenty-five years of service is recorded in voucher form and
each voucher signed “C. Brumidi.”
From 1861 to 1872 were Brumidi’s best years financially, these being the
years he received contract prices for his paintings.
On March 11, 1863, Mr. Brumidi signed a contract with the Government to
paint the Canopy of the Dome for $40,000.00. (This contract is preserved
in the Capitol Brumidi file.) A portion of a letter written by the
Secretary of the Interior, dated November 6, 1863, refers to this
contract:
“In March last an agreement was entered into with Mr. C. Brumidi for
painting the canopy over the eye of the new dome of the Capitol in real
fresco at an entire cost, including the cartoons and every other expense
of not over $40,000, payment to be made in monthly bills as the work
progresses, not to exceed $2,000 each.”
According to the old vouchers in the Architect’s office, the artist was
actually paid $39,500 (chiefly in $2,000 installments) between 1863 and
1866, five hundred dollars having been withheld until the canopy should
be declared finished. Brumidi died before this five hundred dollars was
paid.
The years 1872, 1873, and 1874 were still contract years, but they were
lean years, as only six vouchers totaling $2,350 can be found that were
issued to the artist during those three years, and we find no Brumidi
vouchers in the architect’s file for the years 1875 and 1876.
With the beginning of 1877, however, Brumidi was evidently re-employed
at the Capitol at the rate of $10 per day as shown by two old “Time
Books” which indicate month by month the hours worked and the total
amount earned by the old artist from January 1877 up to the time of his
death on February 19, 1880. These Time Books consistently carried Mr.
Brumidi as fresco artist among its employed personnel of laborers,
masons, plasterers, finishers, and painters. A Brumidi letter written to
Architect Clark July 16, 1879, is the artist’s own verification that the
Government of the United States paid him consistently for art work
during his last years
[Illustration: HORATIO GATES
Profiled midst laurel, fruit, flowers, and birds, Horatio Gates is one
of twenty American profiles painted by Brumidi, each set in its own
panel, on the basement walls of the Senate Annex. The many bird
decorations used to adorn these walls are so accurate that bird
enthusiasts have been known to identify as many as sixty species.
Senator Voorhees of Indiana knew of Brumidi’s love for birds and made
reference to it in this manner: “He (Brumidi) loved these birds as a
father loves his children and he often lingered in their midst as if a
strong tie bound him to them.”]
when much of that work had to be done in his studio because of failing
health. The 1879 letter follows:
“I received yesterday the visit of Mr. McTynchon, and I was glad to
show him the progress of my work in the cartoon for the Dome, that
your kindness permits me to proceed it at my studio at home.
“I have completed the cartoon of the Treaty of William Penn, also
the retouching of the cartoon of Pizzarro, making the light
permanent with glue as I did at the large cartoon of Columbus.
“I have commenced the cartoon of the settlement of New England.
“I hope you and your family will enjoy your summer residence, and I
will continue to progress with my work hoping to give you the
desired satisfaction.
“With my best regards to Mrs. Clark, and family, I remain”
C. BRUMIDI
It seems reasonably certain that the Architect of the Capitol and other
friends of Brumidi in the Congress of the United States at the time of
Brumidi’s death wanted the old artist to have every dollar due him for
the Capitol decorations, even to the extent of using the
$200--apparently earlier appropriated for Dome scaffolding
construction--to defray funeral expenses. Then, too, there is one
voucher in the Brumidi voucher collection, dated February 19, 1880, the
day the artist died, “for 13 days’ services as artist at
$10.00--$130.00.” This voucher is not endorsed.
It is evidently true, also, that Brumidi died poor. In the following
letter to Architect Clark, dated only five months before his death, and
only two days before he fell from the frieze scaffolding we have the
picture of a lonely artist facing lean years with fear--and a bit of
remorse:
Washington, D. C., September 29, 1879
“I received the visit of Dr. Taylor and I hope to obtain much
benefit by his prescription; but my sickness proceeds more by the
mental than physical weakness, because my mind is much worried by
the terrible future prospect of starvation as soon as my bad health
prevents me to do the daily work, having saved nothing in the past
when the fortune provided me with very profitable works.
Probably you know that when the superintendent Meigs was promoted
as Quartermaster General the Senator Foot, President pro tempore of
the Senate, put my name in the roll of the employee and was
continuing to work, and the decorations of the basement corridor of
the Senate was made in that time at the roll pay.
Now, sickly and old, with 26 years’ service as an artist in the
Capitol, I ask the comfort to be replaced in the roll as a reward
for my work and gain again the tranquility of the mind.”
C. BRUMIDI
Four days after the artist’s death a bill was introduced into the Senate
of the United States which read as follows:
“Be it enacted.... That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is
hereby, directed to pay to the heirs of Constantino Brumidi, deceased,
the sum of $500, that being the amount reserved from the last voucher
paid him for painting in fresco the picture on the canopy of the Dome of
the Capitol; and also to pay to said heirs the sum of $200 to defray the
funeral expenses of said deceased; said payments to be made out of
moneys appropriated by an act approved March 3, 1879.”
Upon introducing this bill, Senator Voorhees of Indiana made the
following explanation:
“Mr. President, the reason for the introduction of this bill grows out
of the following facts: The Government made a contract with Mr. Brumidi
for the painting, in fresco, on the canopy of the Dome of the Capitol.
The scaffolding necessary to enable the artist to do his work was
furnished by the Government. When the painting was finished and the
scaffolding removed the Secretary of the Interior withheld the sum of
$500 of the contract price as a guarantee for any retouching which the
work might need after it dried out and became thoroughly seasoned to the
air. This amount was held back, to be paid to Mr. Brumidi for such
future attention on his part as the painting might be found to require.
“He was at all times in readiness to comply with the wishes of the
Government on this subject. No scaffolding, however, was ever replaced
on which to work in the Canopy of the Dome, nor was he ever called on by
the officials having this matter in charge to give his painting there
any further attention.... Both branches of Congress made the following
provision in the sundry civil act for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1880:
“‘To pay C. Brumidi for retouching and blending the picture in fresco on
the Canopy of the Dome of the Capitol and for constructing a scaffolding
under said picture, $700.’
“The money thus appropriated has been available nearly a year, yet no
steps were taken by the proper authorities to enable Mr. Brumidi to
ascend again into the Canopy of the Dome of this Capitol, and none now
ever will be. In the exact and legal fulfillment of a contract it is our
duty to pay this sum of $500 to his heirs. On this point I conceive
there can be no difference of opinion. I have ventured, however, in the
bill just introduced to ask Congress to apply the remaining $200 of the
appropriation of March 3, 1879, to the payment of the funeral expenses
of the great artist who has just passed away.”
Senator Morrill of Vermont followed Senator Voorhees on the Floor of the
Senate on that 24th day of February back in 1880 to add his sanction to
the bill introduced. Said Senator Morrill:
“Mr. President, I desire to express my hearty approval of the measure
proposed by the Senator from Indiana. It is only justice--and that
coldly measured--that we should now pay all we ever promised to one who
can make no further demands upon us, but whose works will live to remind
us of his twenty-five years of most valuable service in a branch of art
where he stood on this continent confessedly foremost, whether among
foreign or native artists. He leaves a daughter in Italy dependent upon
a regular remittance from her father, and he leaves an adopted son
beginning to be taught in the line of his father’s vocation, but not so
far advanced as to give support. I hope it will be the pleasure of the
Senate unanimously to pass the bill whenever it comes up for action.”
Senator Morrill who made the above speech in the Senate of the United
States is the same Senator Morrill to whom Brumidi referred in the
following letter written to Mr. Clark, Architect of the Capitol, and
dated November 30, 1874:
“The Thanksgiving day I received the kind visit of Senator Morrill
at the Providence Hospital. On that occasion I gave him a paper
containing the information of the time I was working in the Capitol
by daily wages and also retained at work by Senator Foot, Chairman
of the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds in the time
of the war.
“The annexed paper is the copy of that I presented to Senator
Morrill. I would have submitted it for your examination but in the
many times I have been in your office I had not the chance to find
you, nor in your house some afternoon.
“Mr. Morrill told me, that I would have work at the Capitol after
the recess of the Congress, but about my proposition, he cannot
tell me anything at present, but will take this matter in
consideration and he asked me what will be my demand about the
wages. I replied that before the war I had ten dollars in gold,
that was a sufficient wage at the time but now all the wages are
generally increased, I hope to obtain the same consideration.”
C. BRUMIDI
According to endorsed vouchers and Time Book entries preserved by the
Government of the United States in the Architect’s office of the
Capitol, actual payment in money was made to Mr. Brumidi of something
over $80,700 during a period of twenty-five years. While an average of
$3,200 a year from 1855 to 1880 was not over-payment for Mr. Brumidi’s
services, yet, by the same reasoning it cannot in truth be termed
under-payment for those same years.
[Illustration]
Brumidi’s American Wife and Children
Every proof that my government was not responsible for Mr. Brumidi’s
last hard years helped to focus my interest on the artist’s family, the
family that should have eased the burdens of their benefactor.
I remembered that in a letter written to the Capitol Architect by
Brumidi, the same year, 1874, that the artist prepared the statement,
“Relative to his Employment at the Capitol,” is a reference to his
temporary residence at Marine Hall. This letter contains also the
artist’s first reference to a physical disability:
“You would be surprised for having not seen me more at the Capitol.
“The large drawing or cartoon is done at Marines Hall where I have
a temporary residence in the same building.
“It was my intention to commence the work as soon as the plasterer
is ready, but Sunday last, a painful rheumatic attack at my knee on
the left side obliged me to remain in bed for some time.
“Yesterday the same rheumatic pain is come also at the other knee,
that does not permit me to walk any step around my room without
assistance.
“This deplorable incident, very strange at this season, compels me
to postpone the work, hoping in some weeks to be able to do it.”
C. BRUMIDI
It is entirely possible that domestic difficulties had a bearing on the
lean years and on the artist’s health. However, it is also possible that
these were the years he used for work outside the city of Washington; it
was in April 1871 that Brumidi wrote to the Architect of the Capitol
mentioning the decorations in St. Stephen’s Church in New York.
I remembered, also, that the Congressional Bill, finally signed by the
President on June 9, 1880, directing the payment of $500 to the children
of Brumidi, actually named these children as
“Elena Brumidi of Rome, Italy
“Laurence S. Brumidi of Washington, District of Columbia.”
Immediately I attached added significance to two letters about Brumidi
that I had recently found in the Capitol Brumidi file. One of these, a
letter written in Rome, on June 14, 1879, by Brumidi’s daughter, Elena,
evidently to the Architect of the Capitol, reads as follows:
“I hope, if I mistake not, that you have a memory of my name. When
I came to Washington in 1871 to embrace my poor father, I had the
pleasure to be introduced by him to you. I beg your pardon if I
take now the liberty to disturb you, but I am sure you will do me
the good office I ask because I know your kindness.
“It is today a month since I have not received any news from my
father, and it is the first time since 27 years he resided in the
United States. Unhappily I know that he is very sick since some
time and confined in the bed, as you surely know. But, though in
that state he has always written regularly to me. I am dreadfully
afraid for this long silence; I fear some great misfortune. I beg
you to inform me about his health, whatever it may be. At the same
time I am desirous of learning something about the real situation
of his private interest, and you understand the reason of this
inquiry.
“I am obliged to apply to you, sir, because you are a friend of my
poor father, and I rely upon your kindness for him and also for his
daughter, beyond your situation in the Capitol. I pray you to keep
the secret about this my letter.
“I beg to forgive my troubling you so much. I wait your answer
truly with a great trepidation and I send to you in advance my
sincere thanks.”
ELENA BRUMIDI
This letter from Elena, written about six months before her father’s
death expressing fear at her father’s silence and concern about his
“private interest” is practically all we know about Elena, the daughter
Brumidi left behind in Italy. We do know, however, that she received her
half of the $500 paid by Congress to the Brumidi heirs, as this payment
is recorded in an old Department of Interior account book now in the
National Archives. This Archives’ record contains an itemized statement
of the actual expenditure of the $700 asked for in the Senate Bill
introduced four days after Brumidi’s death. Even the $200 set aside for
funeral expenses for the artist is accounted for by the Department of
Interior, item by item.
The old artist fell from the frieze scaffolding on October 1, 1879. Six
weeks later a petition, written in a strange hand but signed by Brumidi,
was sent to the Congress of the United States. It gives Brumidi’s
account of his accident and formally asks that he be put on the regular
payroll of the Capitol employees. The petition is preserved in the
Capitol’s Brumidi file and is given here in complete form:
Washington, D. C., November 17, 1879
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
Your petitioner, C. Brumidi, seventy-five years of age, the artist
of the Capitol, originally from Rome, Italy, but now for
twenty-seven years past a duly naturalized citizen of the United
States,
Respectfully represents--That upon the 1st day of October ult, he
was engaged at work upon the Historical Painting in fresco in the
Frieze of the Rotunda of the Capitol, and while sitting upon a
temporary scaffold and near the edge, the chair turned from under
him and threw him over. He caught the round of a ladder and
remained suspended by the strength of his arms for the space of
fifteen minutes, till officer Lammond descended from the top of the
Dome to the scaffold and called two men from the floor of the
Rotunda to assist in the rescue of your petitioner.
A miraculous escape from falling to the floor of the Rotunda a
distance of fifty-eight feet was effected but the fright and shock
to the nerves of your petitioner resulted in a
[Illustration: MR. AND MRS. C. BRUMIDI
Pictured here are the artist and his young American wife, Lola Germon,
taken from old photographs saved by Lola in her album of memories. The
originals have been cherished through the years by Mildred Thompson (of
Washington, D. C.), Lola’s great-grandniece. We believe that both
photographs were taken about the time of the Brumidi-Germon marriage,
around 1860. From 1860 to 1865 was Brumidi’s period of greatest
financial success in America and probably his years of greatest acclaim
and happiness. It was on the back of this photograph of Lola Germon that
her little boy Laurence chose to write, “This is my lovely Mamma.”]
very severe attack of asthma which now prevents him from constant
work upon the scaffold but he is able and desirous, however, to
continue work in his studio upon the Designs and Cartoons which of
course require to be made before they can be copied or painted upon
the walls.
The late Senator S. Foot, acting President of the Senate, at one
time placed your petitioner upon regular payroll of the Capitol
employees.
Now, therefore, in view of these facts that your petitioner became
injured in the performance of his duty, that he is unable to
perform continuous service on the scaffold, your petitioner
respectfully requests that the Honorable Committee will cause his
name to be again placed upon the regular Payroll of Capitol
employees in order that the work may be continued as the health of
the petitioner may permit him to work upon the scaffold in fresco
or upon the cartoons.
The petitioner hopes to obtain this benefit as a reward of the long
life spent in the service of the government.
C. BRUMIDI
The other letter of interest about a member of Brumidi’s family found in
the Brumidi file at the Capitol was written from Paris, France, April 4,
1894, and is signed “Laurence S. Brumidi.” Laurence is the boy to whom
Senator Morrill referred in his Senate speech on February 24, 1880, as
the “adopted son” of Brumidi. This letter from Laurence to the Architect
of the Capitol leads us to believe that Laurence is the artist’s own
son. The letter is quoted in full as it is the only original document in
the Brumidi file throwing any light on the American born son of the
artist:
“It may seem strange after so many years’ silence I recall myself
to you. Necessity compels me to claim not only your remembrance,
but also your favorable attention. First, I will offer for
consideration my petition then my reasons for making it. I have in
my possession a portrait of my father, also a sketch of the Dome,
“The Apotheosis of Washington.” These I would gladly sell to the
Government or Corcoran Art Gallery for one thousand dollars.
“Only a pressing need could cause me to offer these precious
souvenirs of my father for sale. But the moment has arrived when
all must be sacrificed in order to assure future prosperity. Now
the last four years have been spent in Paris pursuing my studies in
the art chosen when I little knew the sacrifices required by it.
“I have exposed in the Paris Salon for several years and this year
have been promised an honor, and my picture will be reproduced in a
number of illustrated art publications.
“By this you will perceive that could I pursue the route now open
to me for another year I could grasp the fortune offered by
success. Unfortunately I find myself quite exhausted by these last
efforts and today without funds.
“If the souvenir of my father’s friendship for you will aid my
cause I invoke that souvenir knowing that a kindness to his son
would be the happiest return for his esteem and friendship.
“If instead of purchasing the pictures in question you could give
me some work to execute here and bring home with me next year, that
would be more agreeable providing I could thereby obtain some money
immediately. I can very easily execute any commission you care to
give me.
“Trusting that this application made at the last moment and after
years of hard effort will meet your approval and bring the desired
aid so urgently required.”
LAURENCE BRUMIDI
[Illustration: WORKING SKETCH FOR THREE GRACES
Lola Germon is responsible for the early preservation of this little
sketch of Brumidi’s nine beautiful maidens. It was a gift to Mrs. Ashmun
Brown from her Aunt Lola. These maidens as painted in fresco on the
ceiling of the District of Columbia Committee Room of the Senate are
reproduced elsewhere in this book. This working sketch has had tender
care, the colors being as softly beautiful today as those in the ceiling
fresco itself.]
This letter from Laurence S. Brumidi stirs many a question but the next
truth uncovered about Laurence Brumidi left only silent years following
the letter from Paris. Laurence was admitted to St. Elizabeth’s asylum
in Washington, D. C., on May 26, 1916, and, according to the St.
Elizabeth records, he died there on November 9, 1920, at the age of
fifty-four.
Since the birth records at the Vital Statistics Bureau of the District
of Columbia go back only as far as 1872, it has been impossible to find
a record of the birth of Laurence. The District Records in the Marriage
License Bureau of the Muncipal Court in Washington do not record a
marriage for Mr. Brumidi in the early 1860’s. The marriage, of course,
could have taken place in any nearby city.
In 1879 Mr. Brumidi made a Will which was filed, but not probated. In
this Will, a copy of which follows, the artist referred to Laurence as
“my boy,” bequeathed to him all of his “estate and property, real and
personal” and made no mention of Laurence’s mother or of his
half-sister, Elena, in Italy:
Washington, D. C., June 27, 1879
“In the name of God, Amen,
“I, Constantino Brumidi, of No. 921 G. Street, Washington, D. C.,
make this my last will.
“I give, devise and bequeath all my estate and property, real and
personal, to my boy, named, called and known by the name of
Laurence S. Brumidi, as follows, that is to say:
“All engravings, works of art, paintings and apparatus pertaining
thereto that I now or may hereafter possess; all designs or
sketches and tracings for the frieze of the Capitol of the United
States and any other purpose; my gold watch and chain, bookcase,
library and all objects and things in my room; all money that I
have in possession, or that may be due me at the time of my demise,
from the United States government or any other source.
“These things and any or all property, real and personal, that I
may now have or may hereafter possess do I convey to said Laurence
S. Brumidi, to be enjoyed by him, his heirs or assigns, forever,
free from all claim or claims of any, every and all persons,
whomsoever, claiming or to claim the same or any part thereof, by,
under or through me or any of my heirs.
“I appoint Robert Mason of Washington, D. C., my executor, who
shall receive no reward.”
CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI
This Will of Constantino Brumidi was brought to light in Washington in
1919 when a lengthy article appeared in the Washington Sunday Star of
November 2, entitled:
“_Brumidi Paintings Found in Washington
After a Search of Forty Years._”
It seems that in 1919, The National Savings and Trust Company, on New
York Avenue, about a block from the White House, found in their storage
vault two large boxes containing twenty-four Brumidi paintings including
a sketch of the Dome canopy--a circular canvas upon which was painted
the design for the ceiling of the Dome. When and by whom these boxes
were stored will probably never be known but it is entirely possible
that they were packed away in the early years after having been willed
to Laurence Brumidi.
The newspaper article for November 2, 1919, quotes the accumulated
storage charges as $300. It states also that “the packing evidently was
done by Brumidi himself because they were arranged so expertly as to
sustain no damage whatever.”
The boxes were opened by Court Order by Mr. Edward P. Schwartz who was
named executor of the 1879 Brumidi will, and also “named committeeman by
the Court” for Laurence who had been committed to St. Elizabeth’s
Hospital.
All of these Brumidi paintings found in 1919 are reported to have been
sold at auction, including two large portraits of Lola Germon, Brumidi’s
American-born wife and the mother of Laurence. The Sunday Star, in the
above-mentioned article, reproduced the portrait of Lola and commented
upon her beauty as well as upon her likeness to many of the Madonnas in
the Capitol frescoes.
Charles E. Fairman, art curator of the Capitol, was present at the time
these storage boxes were opened and has left a list of the contents of
each box. He records a total of twenty-four paintings. Fairman also
makes mention of the two portraits of Lola Germon in heavy gold,
oval-shaped frames. But no one connected with the Capitol Building, so
far as I have been able to learn, made a bid for any of the stored
Brumidi paintings.
I have found, however, that two letters are on file from Mr. Edward P.
Schwartz to Capitol authorities giving detailed information concerning
the stored paintings. The Schwartz letter dated October 21, 1919,
follows:
“Sometime ago I was made Executor under the Will of Mrs. Lola V.
Kirkwood, who was the widow of Constantino Brumidi, the artist who
devoted more than 25 years of his life to the beautification of the
Capitol. Mr. Brumidi has a son who is now in the Insane Asylum and
under Mr. Brumidi’s Will, which was filed and never probated, he left
all of his etchings of the Capitol and designs, etc., together with
other paintings to his son. The Court appointed me Committeeman of this
son with instructions to examine the several boxes that have been in
storage for over thirty years and have their contents appraised and
report to the Court. If you are interested, call by my office and we
will go over and have these boxes opened to see what they contain as you
may be able to make some suggestion as to their disposal.”
On February 21, 1920, Mr. Schwartz wrote again to the Capitol, this time
to the Joint Committee on the Library:
“I am sending herewith enclosed an item in the Sunday’s Star entitled
‘Brumidi Paintings found in Washington after a Search of Forty Years.’
You will notice that these paintings are the original, or the copies
from which Brumidi decorated the Capitol. Among the twenty-seven oil
paintings of various sizes belonging to the estate of Brumidi, of which
I am the Executor and Committeeman for his son, Laurence S. Brumidi, who
is now in St. Elizabeth’s Asylum for the insane, there is one worthy of
consideration, and that is the original oil painting of the Rotunda of
the Capitol which I have in storage and is in excellent condition. This
miniature is in oil, about 35 inches in diameter from which, no doubt,
he copied his wonderful Rotunda painting. It is quite an education and
shows the process of making a great picture. There are quite a number of
his paintings in the collection, and I was wondering if the Committee on
the Library would be sufficiently interested to confer with the object
of offering a suggestion as to the final disposition of these paintings.
It is my judgment they should be in the Capitol, as they are all, I
believe, originals, and the only ones existing.... Personally, I would
like to see these paintings in the Capitol.”
Mr. Fairman has left the following memorandum, dated October 22, 1919,
in the Capitol files referring to the information from Mr. Schwartz:
“Called on Edward P. Schwartz at 734 Fifteenth Street, N. W., in
relation to attached letter. Mr. Schwartz showed me a copy of the Will
of Constantino Brumidi, executed at 921 G Street, N. W., June 27, 1879,
in which he appoints Robert Mason of Washington, D. C., his executor.
The Will is witnessed by Wm. H. Appleton, A. H. Whittaker, Martha Dent,
and Robert Mason. I made a copy of one section of the Will. While the
entire Will is in favor of Laurence S. Brumidi, this paragraph seems to
be the only one in which this office is interested:
“‘All engravings, works of art, paintings, and apparatus pertaining
thereto ... all designs, sketches and tracings for the frieze of the
Capitol of the U. S.’
“Mr. Schwartz also showed me his authority as Committeeman for Laurence
S. Brumidi (insane) and stated that he was also the executor of the Will
of Lola V. Kirkwood, former wife of Constantino Brumidi, that Mrs.
Kirkwood married a second time one Kirkwood an Army officer, that he had
searched for the boxes referred to in his letter and finally found them
in storage at the National Savings and Trust Co., corner of N. Y. Ave. &
15th St., where they had been for over thirty years, and on which he had
paid storage for that period amounting to about $386. He further stated
that Mrs. Kirkwood and Laurence S. Brumidi had forgotten where the two
boxes were stored. He will fix a date for opening the boxes and phone me
so that I can be present and see the contents of the boxes.”
On January 16, 1925, the Capitol authorities were again informed
concerning the pending auction of these Brumidi originals, this time by
a newspaper correspondent living in Washington. His name was Ashmun
Brown and this is what he wrote:
“It may interest you to know that a considerable collection of the
paintings of Brumidi, the fresco artist, is to be sold at auction at
Sloane’s Gallery, on January 28th and 29th, by order of the Probate
Court incident to the settlement of the estates of his widow and son.
The pictures are to be open to inspection at Sloane’s on January
25th-28th. While I have never seen this collection, I understand that it
contains several of Brumidi’s original studies for frescoes which now
adorn the walls of the Capitol. I am told that at one time a valuation
of about $20,000 was placed on this collection. However, when it was
offered for sale at auction several months ago, the highest bid obtained
was only $800. So at the insistence of the heirs another offering has
been ordered. It occurred to me that you might be interested in the
matter.”
[Illustration]
Brumidiana Outside the United States Capitol
Reference by Charles E. Fairman to two portraits of Lola Germon painted
by Brumidi and preserved in heavy gold frames that were finally sold at
auction in the Capitol City of the United States in 1925 fired my
interest anew in the American-born wife of Brumidi, the beautiful girl
who is said to have modeled for many of the Madonnas painted on Capitol
walls and ceilings. While searching for something tangible about Lola
Germon I was led to an extensive inquiry as to Brumidi’s burial place.
BRUMIDI’S GRAVE
At the very point of giving up the quest for Brumidi’s grave I called
all the old burial grounds in the District and asked that they search
their records for a Brumidi burial in 1880. Glenwood Cemetery in
Northeast Washington soon reported that Constantino Brumidi was recorded
to have been buried there on February 21, 1880, in Lot 70, site 6.
On my first visit to the old section of Glenwood Cemetery I searched out
Lot 70. It was surrounded by an iron fence bearing the name _Germon_,
1877, on a sagging gate. There was no marker on site 6, to indicate the
burial place of Brumidi. It seemed clear to me that Lola Germon must
have buried her artist husband in the old family burial plot since two
small white stones, on sites 1 and 2 of Lot 70, evidently marked the
burial places of Lola’s father and mother, the father having been buried
there in 1855 and the mother some twenty years later.
As I looked upon Brumidi’s unmarked grave, the unknown grave of the
artist who spent his last twenty-five years decorating the Capitol
Building of the United States, I decided that sometime I would paint the
little white-washed iron fence around Lot 70 as my personal tribute to
those twenty-five Brumidi years. Several years went by. It was the
spring of 1946 before I began painting the iron fence.
On my first painting day, as I labored, weaving highly colored fiction
about the beautiful American girl and the romantic old artist, three
times her age, I was startled by a young voice directly behind me which
excitedly asked, “Why are you painting the fence around this Cemetery
Lot?”
I turned to find a lovely girl watching my efforts with deep concern. I
was so startled as to be unable to give any logical reason for painting
an old fence partly hidden by poison ivy in the oldest corner of an old
cemetery, so I asked the young visitor this question, “Why are you
interested?” She replied quickly and firmly, “I have a right to know.”
Soon I found myself telling this girl the whole story of Brumidi and his
unmarked burial place. She listened with an unbelievable concern and
then launched forth with a story of her own that so far outmatched mine
as to appear at first a bit of imaginative make-believe. Said she:
“All my life I have heard my people talk about this artist, Brumidi, and
it seems that I have always known he was buried inside this little iron
fence. His unmarked grave has had a strange fascination for me, ever
since childhood. Every time I pass the cemetery in a street car I look
over at this little iron fence on the hillside and think about this
forgotten grave that means so much to me.
“As I was riding past today, wondering if I would forever be the only
one interested in the lonesome little Brumidi fence, I suddenly thought
I saw a woman painting that very fence. I kept telling myself it was not
true, that I must have imagined such an unheard-of thing, and all the
time my street car carried me farther and farther away. Finally, unable
to stand the suspense any longer I got off the car, took a trolley
back--and here I am--and there you are--,” and she stopped for breath.
Sensing my completely mystified expressions, she added, “You see, it was
my great-grand aunt, Lola Germon, who modeled for the Capitol Madonnas
and later married Brumidi.”
I went home with Lola Germon’s great-grandniece, Mildred Thompson, and
met the Thompson family. Mildred’s mother slightly doubted my sanity for
painting a cemetery fence belonging to a stranger but presently she laid
before me a deed to the cemetery lot and a family album given to her by
Lola Germon. Mrs. Thompson’s cemetery deed had been issued by Glenwood
Cemetery to Eliza A. Germon, Lola’s mother, in 1866 and verified the
cemetery records that show Brumidi as buried in Lot 70, site 6; Laurence
Brumidi in site 4; and Lola Brumidi in site 5. (Only, Lola Germon
Brumidi was Lola Virginia Kirkwood at the time of her death in 1918, and
both she and her third husband, Edward Kirkwood, are buried in site 5.)
LOLA GERMON’S ALBUM
It was a great disappointment to me that the Thompson family knew so few
facts about Lola and her artist husband, but by means of Lola’s album
and by word of mouth they verified certain facts in my mind.
[Illustration: BRUMIDI’S GRAVE
The grave site of Constantino Brumidi, in Glenwood Cemetery (Washington,
D. C.) will soon bear a marker from the Government of the United States.
In this picture, taken in early spring, we can locate the burial site of
the Capitol artist in the immediate foreground, just inside the little
iron fence, that being site 6 of Lot 70. Twin shafts on sites 1 and 2
within the fence mark the graves of Lola Germon’s parents. The deed to
this lot, issued in 1866 to Eliza Germon, Lola’s mother, is now in the
possession of Lola’s great-grandniece, Mildred Thompson, of
Washington.]
They knew that Lola Germon had married Brumidi when she was about
eighteen years old; that Laurence was their only son; that the beautiful
Lola had modeled for many of the Capitol paintings; and that at one
time, as Mrs. Brumidi, Lola attended a White House reception with her
artist husband, in the most beautiful gown he could afford to buy.
The hallowed old album in which Lola had chosen to preserve her
treasured Brumidi memories held many pictures of Brumidi, of Laurence,
and of the young Lola, but for the most part all pictures were undated
and unmarked--all, save one. On the back of a photograph of a very
beautiful young girl (Lola Germon) were these words, written in a
childish hand, “This is my lovely mama.”
Four small unmarked photographs on the last pages of the old album are
of special interest since they are reproductions of religious paintings.
It was my guess that they were photographs of Brumidi’s working sketches
for church decorations--and to date two of these have been identified.
The huge fresco over the main altar in St. Stephen’s Church in New York,
some 70 feet in height, is the same “Crucifixion” as that in the little
photograph in Lola’s album, and the large fresco over the main altar in
the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia is the same
“Crucifixion” scene only with outstanding figures of Saint Peter and
Saint Paul at the foot of the cross.
MILDRED THOMPSON’S COLLECTION
Mildred Thompson, Lola Germon’s great-grandniece, later salvaged a
packet of old letters and legal documents from Laurence Brumidi’s trunk
now stored at the home of a relative, all of which helps to unravel the
tangled Brumidi story.
A deed to certain Washington property dated November 19, 1864, and
signed by Constantino Brumidi and wife, Lola V. Brumidi, is the earliest
document found containing Lola’s signature. The latest document in this
Thompson collection signed by Lola as Mrs. Brumidi is an indenture
signed by both Constantino Brumidi and Lola V. Germon Brumidi borrowing
$2,500 in 1870. The next document in point of time bearing Lola’s name
in this collection is a letter written to Mrs. Lola V. Walsh, 911 G St.,
N. W., on March 22, 1879, by a Washington lawyer announcing that he had
obtained a loan of $3,500 on the premises at 921 G St. (where the old
artist later died) and stating that since the deed conveying the
property to Lola was in his possession she could take charge of the
property and begin her repairs at once.
Sometime, then, between 1870 and 1879 Lola was evidently divorced from
the Italian artist and married to a Mr. Walsh. Tax receipts, insurance
receipts, and interest statements in this same Thompson collection,
signed by Lola and dated from 1880 to 1892 indicate that Lola V. Walsh
married a Mr. Kirkwood sometime between August 31, 1891, and August 30,
1892, at which later date a fire insurance receipt bears the signature,
Mrs. Lola V. Kirkwood.
The packet of documents from Laurence’s trunk contains also the
following valued items:
(1) Two letters written by “C. Brumidi” to the Architect of the
Capitol--one, dated August 26, 1876, and the other dated November 26,
1879, the latter being probably the last letter ever written by the
artist to the Architect. These two letters were no doubt given to
Laurence from the Brumidi file by Architect Clark himself. (2) Two
letters written to C. Brumidi by Senator Morrill of Vermont--one, dated
May 19th (probably 1865) and the other, dated June 20, 1878. (3) A
[Illustration: LOLA GERMON’S ALBUM
In the showing before you the artist and Lola focus attention to the
upper half of the right-hand page. The lower half portrays Elena
Brumidi, the artist’s daughter left behind in Italy, and the artist’s
son, Laurence, the child of his American wife Lola, in Washington. On
the left-hand page are pictures of four religious paintings. The upper
two have been identified as photographs of working sketches for Brumidi
paintings in St. Stephen’s Church, New York City, and the Cathedral of
St. Peter and St. Paul, Philadelphia. The lower two have not been
identified.]
business letter from a Washington lawyer to Laurence in Paris in 1893,
forwarding to him certain papers to be signed which would ultimately
give him $600 from his mother. (4) Laurence’s application in Washington
for a loan of $5000 in August, 1895. (5) Consummation of that $5000 loan
in September, 1895, by Laurence’s mother. (6) A letter from a London
artist to Laurence in Washington in 1897 in which the Londoner wrote, “I
hope you are increasing your bank account and that some day we will see
you back again as I suppose you long to be. Now brace up. I don’t think
you will ever be happy outside Paris or Italy.” (7) Two letters from
Lola V. Kirkwood to Laurence in Washington in 1902. (8) A photograph of
the original working sketch of the Dome Canopy. (9) An old clipping
entitled “His Wife His Model.” (10) The Bible given to C. Brumidi by the
American Bible Society when the artist landed in New York in 1852.
The two Brumidi letters kept through the years by Laurence will be
quoted in full, as they are further proof that Brumidi was paid by the
Government of the United States for his work on the Rotunda frieze
designs during his last years even when confined by illness to his
studio. Brumidi’s conscientious effort to make each day profitable to
his government as well as to himself is also a part of the following
letter:
Washington, D. C., August 26, 1876
“Martin mentioned to me that you wished my report for the month. I
lost two days, those consumed in traveling, the remainder of my
stay was spent working on the cartoons.
“Now I have completed the Treaty of William Penn and the Settlement
of New England, all ready for transfer in full size.
“With many thanks for your kindness and obligation.”
The following 1879 letter to Architect Clark is the only one found
written by the artist himself after his almost fatal fall from the
frieze on October 1, 1879:
“For answer to your desire for making the report of the time worked
in the present month of Nov. 1879, I can tell to have employed all
the working days in drawing the cartoons for the frieze now in
progress in the Rotunda of the Capitol, and having completed the
subject of Oglethorpe, and the Muskogee chief, with a portion of
the Insurrection of Lexington.
“I work sometime with difficulty when I am troubled by the asthma,
but after some rest I proceed with my work. I hope you will be very
kind in recommending my petition to the Honorable Committee.”
C. BRUMIDI
Senator Morrill’s friendship for Brumidi is forever recorded in the
following two letters written to the artist:
Washington, D. C., May 19th
“I expected to have returned in time to see you on Saturday. I am
so well pleased with what I have that more seems unnecessary.
Possibly I may in the fall or winter do a little something on the
Library. If you choose to put some heads on canvas for that object
you can do the three heads enclosed and get one more of Clark or
such as you choose.”
JUSTIN S. MORRILL
(This letter must have been written after May, 1865, as that was the
date Edward Clark became Architect of the Capitol.)
United States Senate Chamber
June 20, 1878
“I was surprised upon reaching home this morning to find an oil
painting in my parlor, being a copy by your son Laurence, from
Guidorini.
“It is quite a pleasing picture, and considering the short time he
has attempted any work of this kind I think it betokens a talent of
which his father may reasonably be hopeful.
“Of course he cannot expect to equal you with your forty years of
experience.
“I am just leaving the city and have only time to render to him my
thanks.”
JUSTIN S. MORRILL
Lola Germon Kirkwood was about sixty years old and Laurence Brumidi was
forty-one when the following two letters were written from the mother to
the son:
Home (Richmond), May 29, 1902
“The check and ‘heads’ came safely, and would have been
acknowledged sooner, but I hoped to write a longer letter, and
waited for a more encouraging mood, but none came.
“I wish I could sell them for you but an art man told Mr. Kirkwood
this was a poor city for such sales, the people being too poor. You
see they are just about recovering from the results of the civil
war. Then besides people want large showy things. In other words,
they want big things for little money. They are beautiful but if I
had to buy them I would too want something larger.
“I am sorry you sent anything you put so much work on. I thought I
made myself plain. I wanted something big too. Even a landscape
thrown roughly on. There would have been likely no visitor here to
have told good work, and if asked I would have said it was sent me
by a young student. But if I should get a chance to sell, you know
how glad I shall be. I am quite sure if Whitney, Morgan, Carnegie
or any of those great rich men were properly approached they would
give perhaps thousands of dollars for the original copy of the
dome, alone. I should think it would be a great thing for them to
have in their private gallery. In the meantime why don’t you try a
letter to these men?”
MOTHER
Home (Richmond), October 9, 1902
“I am sorry to hear you have been again sick, and thought as much
when the letter came a little later than usual.
“Yes, when the lawyer’s letter came I found myself disappointed,
though I had promised myself not to be. If we had of gotten any
money you could easily put through that claim at Congress and could
also have made money out of those sketches of your father’s dome
pictures and others. It takes money to make money, unfortunately.
“I have always tried to coax you to keep up correspondence with
Elena. I don’t know why it is but I have lived in the hope that the
agent may sell enough of your father’s pictures in the fall to give
you some comfort for the rest of your life. I should think the
sketch of the dome alone would do that. And then I feel the moment
you did not of necessity require it you would be able to sell as
many of your own as you would desire. Keep up good spirits.”
With love as ever,
MOTHER
The photograph of the original working sketch for the Dome Canopy saved
through the years in the trunk of Laurence Brumidi is clear and the
figures very distinct. This photograph no doubt was mounted for the
purpose of registry in the District, for beneath the picture is the
following printed notation:
“Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1866 by Constantino
Brumidi, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of
Columbia.”
On the back of this picture is an Internal Revenue stamp cancelled on
May 12, 1866. It was the original of this photograph, oil on canvas,
some thirty-six inches in diameter, which was among the Brumidi
paintings found in 1919 in Washington after being stored away for forty
years.
As we examine closely the characters portrayed on the small photograph
of Brumidi’s original working sketch for the Rotunda canopy, or on any
canopy photographs taken in the Rotunda, the figure of Columbia is
outstanding. Columbia is pictured as armed Liberty with “sword, shield,
and angry eagle driving out tyranny, pestilence and fear.” However, it
is the faded old clipping that Lola saved with the 1866 photograph that
adds the romantic luster to Columbia in this Dome Canopy design,
especially since we remember the exact words of Mildred Thompson: “Aunt
Lola always said she modeled for Freedom in the Dome Canopy.” The faded
clipping is quoted in full:
“Visitors to the Capitol who admire the beautiful decorative work to be
seen in the rotunda and in the corridors, especially on the Senate end
of the building, will find additional interest in the work of the artist
when they learn the source of his inspiration for many of the female
figures that appear in the designs.
“The aged artist, Brumidi, whose brush did most of the most beautiful of
the decorative work of the Capitol, married in Washington, D. C., Miss
Lola Germon, a young lady well known for her beauty, which has been
perpetuated in many of the paintings executed by her husband. Features a
little too well rounded to be thoroughly classic, black hair, a fair
complexion and blue eyes, together with a shapely form, were the
characteristics of Mrs. Brumidi. She was greatly admired not only for
her beauty of person, but for her qualities of mind, which made her a
general favorite in that city. One of the figures in the ceiling of the
rotunda is said to be an exact likeness of the artist’s beautiful wife,
while most of the figures he painted in the Capitol portray some of her
characteristics.”
The old Bible given to Mr. Brumidi by the American Bible Society in 1852
when the artist landed in New York no doubt was originally saved by Lola
Germon for her son Laurence. On the inside front cover are these words
written in the C. Brumidi hand:
“Constantino Brumidi from Rome, Italy, arrived in New York, America, the
18th of September, 1852. Presented to me by the American Bible Society.”
The only other writing in the Bible is the following on a blank page for
births--also in the C. Brumidi hand:
Constantino Brumidi born in Rome, July 26th, 1805, by Stauro
Brumidi of Shiliatra, province of Arcadia in the Peloponnesus
(Greece) and Ann Bianchini of Rome.
Daughter, Maria Elena Brumidi born in Rome the 15th of August 1832.
Sons, Joseph Brumidi, born in Rome, 17th January, 1842; Laurence S.
Brumidi born in Washington, D. C. (America) May 12th 1861.
BRUMIDI WORKING SKETCHES
Brumidi’s technique is of great interest. First, he executed his design
in color on a small canvas in oil. This he termed a working sketch. Then
he drew the large outline figures which he called cartoons with the
miniature oil before him. These large cartoons served as stencils
through which he dusted powder or charcoal, thus outlining his groups
quickly upon the wall or ceiling.
The Brumidi working sketches found in Washington during recent years are
in a wonderfully fine state of preservation, whether they have come
directly from the hand of Lola Germon or from Laurence Brumidi’s storage
cache found in 1919, or from other sources. Most of the canvases have in
no manner been restored or retouched but the colors are soft and true
and pleasing. Those art lovers who fear that certain Capitol decorations
may have suffered by “restorations” have but to compare the Capitol
fresco with its working sketch to be reassured.
Mrs. Ashmun Brown owns working sketches for four of the frescoes in the
Capitol Building, “History,” “Physics,” and “The Three Graces” in the
District of Columbia Committee Room of the Senate, and for the
“Cornwallis-Washington” mural in the House of Representatives Chamber.
Mrs. Brown also has the Brumidi working sketches for four of his
religious paintings.
In addition to being the grandniece of Lola Germon, Mrs. Brown is the
wife of the late Ashmun Brown, the Washington correspondent who wrote
the Capitol officials back in 1925 advising them that an auction of
Brumidi paintings was scheduled, and urging the Government to
investigate the treasures. Mrs. Brown received four of her Brumidi
paintings direct from Aunt Lola Germon, and five more were purchased at
the auction in 1925. She regrets not having bought, at that auction, the
two portraits of Lola Germon by Brumidi, as these two paintings have not
yet been found.
Mrs. Harvey Hunt who attended the Brumidi auction of 1925 with Mrs.
Ashmun Brown, purchased four of the Brumidi paintings. Two of these are
working sketches of cherubs, one bearing the Brumidi signature; another,
a sketch of Lola Germon used for “Prudence” in the Senate Reception
Room; and the fourth, an oval landscape much like those painted on the
walls of the main corridor on the ground floor of the Senate Annex.
Mrs. Hunt being a grandniece of Lola Germon gave three of her treasures
to a grandnephew of her Aunt Lola so today three of these working
sketches are in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Germon.
Mrs. McCook Knox owns the two original working sketches for “Telegraph”
and “Columbia Welcoming the South Back into the Union”--“Telegraph”
being one of four large lunettes in the main District of Columbia
Committee Room of the Senate while the fresco depicting the Civil War
theme covers the ceiling in this Committee’s ante-room. This ante-room
was originally the Senate Sergeant at Arms’ office.
Mrs. Knox purchased her oil studies from Mr. H. O. Bishop. Her study of
“Telegraph” was reproduced in the Washington _Star_ in 1919 as one of
the originals stored away for 40 years. Both of the above mentioned
pictures now owned by Mrs. Knox were purchased by Mr. Bishop at the C.
G. Sloan auction rooms in 1925.
Captain Alexander Macomb, U. S. Navy, inherited nine Brumidi working
sketches from his father, Colonel Augustus C. Macomb. These paintings
can be traced to the same Captain Meigs with whom Brumidi carried on
early correspondence. Being such a prolific painter, Brumidi, no doubt,
remembered his friends generously with original sketches.
At the death of General Meigs in 1892, his Brumidi originals were given
to a nephew, Lieutenant Augustus C. Macomb, who later became a Colonel
in the United States Army. The present Captain Alexander Macomb who now
owns the nine Brumidi working sketches has given them the best of care
through the years. Two of these Macomb canvases are the working sketches
for frescoes in the Appropriations Committee Room of the Senate--“The
Battle of Lexington” and “The Storming of Stony Point.” A third canvas
is the sketch of the entire groined arch in the ceiling of the Senate
Reception Room and displays the four allegorical groupings--“Liberty,”
“Plenty,” “War,” and “Peace.”
Captain Macomb tells how his father traveled from one army post to
another over a quarter of a century taking with him his family and his
household possessions and always the beautiful Brumidi paintings went
along. Those nine Brumidi originals hung in an adobe house at Ft.
Huachuca, Arizona, from 1900 to 1905.
Mrs. Edmund B. Montgomery who owns the working sketch for the Dome
Canopy, now has it hanging in Collingwood near Mount Vernon where it can
easily be seen by visitors. This Dome Canopy sketch, some 35 inches in
diameter, was also in the “storage find” of 1919 and sold at auction,
according to Mrs. Ashmun Brown, for $300 in 1925. This sketch is
definitely authenticated by means of the circular photograph saved in
Laurence Brumidi’s trunk and bearing the Internal Revenue Stamp dated
May 12, 1866. It is indeed fortunate that we have located not only the
original working sketch of this Dome Canopy but a photograph of this
sketch made in 1866 originally owned by the artist himself and saved for
us by Laurence Brumidi, son of the Capitol fresco painter.
Warrenton House owns, and has on display in Warrenton, Virginia, the
working sketch of the group painting in the Senate Reception
Room--Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton in consultation. This small
painting about ten inches square no doubt was originally sold at the
Sloan auction in 1925.
Mrs. Murray Russell is the owner of two portraits done by Brumidi. These
are of added interest as Brumidi treasures because of the story attached
to them. The paintings portray the grandparents of Mrs. Russell--Mr. and
Mrs. Andrew J. Joyce. According to Mrs. Russell, it was her
grandmother’s brother, John Norris, a student in Rome around 1850
studying to be a priest, who influenced Brumidi to come to America with
him in 1852. Brumidi is reported to have lived at the Joyce home in
Washington at one time and so great was his appreciation for this haven
that he painted the portraits of his benefactors, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J.
Joyce.
Ceylon M. Boswell purchased at auction several years ago the portrait of
a woman. The painting bore the Brumidi signature and has hung in the
Boswell home where it has received excellent care. By means of a small
photograph in Lola Germon’s album, we have been able recently to
identify the likeness as that of Mrs. Edward Clark, wife of Mr. Clark
who was Capitol architect during most of the time Brumidi painted at the
Capitol Building.
Two paintings in the Washington, D. C., home of Dr. Edward C. Morse have
been in the family since about 1875. One is the portrait of Dr. Morse’s
maternal grandfather bearing the Brumidi signature, while the other is a
copy of the famous “Titian’s Daughter.” The latter bears no signature
but both pictures have been known as Brumidi’s through the years. Each
bears the label of having been originally framed by “McElroy’s Art
Store, 1003 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C.”
Miss Charlotte Clark, late of Sandwich, Mass., granddaughter of Edward
Clark, Architect of the Capitol from 1865 to 1902, had inherited from
her parents two family
[Illustration: WORKING SKETCH OF DOME CANOPY
The Dome fresco shown at right could not have been photographed from any
spot in the Rotunda because all six allegorical groups about the center
“Apotheosis of Washington” are here shown without obstruction. This
reproduction is from a photograph of Brumidi’s working sketch of the
Dome which is mounted on ornamental cardboard, said photograph on
cardboard having been saved through the years in Laurence Brumidi’s
trunk. The photograph was apparently mounted in this manner for
registration purposes in the District Court as the cancelled stamp on
the back is marked, “Internal Revenue, Proprietary, May 12, 1866.”]
portraits painted by Brumidi. One of these is the portrait of Mrs.
Edward Clark holding her small son, Watson Clark. The other is that of
Edward Clark’s twin daughters.
In Lola Germon’s old album are two small faded photographs, one of Mrs.
Clark and baby, the other of twin girls. These two pictures were
evidently used as studies at the time Brumidi painted the large
portraits for the Clark family.
Edith Smith Hawes has inherited the working sketch for the altar mural,
“Crucifixion,” in St. Stephen’s Church, New York City. It was given to
Mrs. Hawes’ father, Amzi Smith, by Brumidi during the years Mr. Smith
had charge of the Senate Document Room.
Mrs. Hawes remembers having heard her father tell often of his close
friendship with the Capitol artist. Her father’s most vivid story told
of Brumidi’s hasty visit one day to the Senate Document Room and how the
artist said to her father, “Amzi, please sit down and put your hand on
the arm of that chair.” Mr. Smith obeyed. Mr. Brumidi sketched rapidly.
As the artist left he called back, “Here I go to put Amzi Smith’s hand
on Thomas Jefferson.” “And,” says Mrs. Hawes, “I still visit the Senate
Reception Room to see my father’s hand on the great Jefferson.”
The Sisters of the Visitation Convent in Bethesda tell that in January,
1878, Sister Aloysius Gardiner of the Visitation Convent on Connecticut
Avenue and L Streets, where the Mayflower Hotel is now situated,
celebrated the “Silver Jubilee of her profession.” At that time her
uncle, Mr. Philip Simms of New Orleans, wishing to commemorate the event
in a fitting manner, employed the artist, Constantino Brumidi, to paint
a large picture for the Convent chapel. The subject was “The Apparition
of our Lord to Saint Margaret Mary.” The canvas measured 17 feet in
height with the figures life-size.
The painting was done by Brumidi in the Distribution Hall of the old
Convent school and then hung in the chapel over the altar for forty-one
years. In 1919 when the old Convent was sold and the Sisters moved to
their new Convent in Bethesda, Maryland, the Brumidi painting was found
to be too large for the new chapel so it was given to Holy Trinity
Church, Georgetown, where it still adorns a side wall near the altar.
St. Aloysius Church in the Capitol City displays three paintings by
Brumidi--the large mural over the central altar and two
[Illustration: ST. ALOYSIUS MURAL
“St. Charles Borroméo giving Holy Communion to St. Aloysius Gonzaga” is
the title of this Brumidi picture, painted in 1859, which is over the
main altar of the St. Aloysius Church, Washington, D. C. Brumidi gave to
the kneeling figure at the extreme right the features of Father Benedict
Sestini, S.J., professor at Georgetown College, Architect of St.
Aloysius Church and close friend of Brumidi. Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas is
said to have modeled for the beautiful mother of St. Aloysius. Brumidi’s
own likeness, faintly painted, can be identified in the center
background beneath the ciborium held by St. Charles Borroméo. The
present low altar of St. Aloysius Church lays bare the lower part of the
Brumidi mural which was intended to be covered permanently by the
original high altar.]
medallions over the side altars. The church is especially proud of the
central mural as Brumidi painted into the picture the likeness of Father
Sestini, architect of the church and friend of Brumidi.
The diary of the St. Aloysius Church has the following entry dated
October 3, 1859, “Today the picture over the main altar is finished and
the last scaffolding is removed from the church.”
Another entry in the church diary of interest to us here is dated
February 19, 1880, “Father Sestini came in the evening in response to a
letter sent him by Mr. Brumidi’s adopted son, telling him that his
master was dying and wished him present but Father Sestini was too late
as he (Mr. Brumidi) had already died in the morning. The eminent artist
and Father Sestini are intimate friends and it was through their united
efforts that St. Aloysius Church received the beautiful pictures it now
possesses. Though Mr. Brumidi was not always a practicing Catholic he
was induced to practice his religious duties during the last year of his
life by Father Sestini. May he rest in peace.”
The author was able to identify in St. Stephen’s Church in New York,
another Brumidi painting--a life-size portrait of the Christ, displayed
in a gilded frame. St. Stephen’s had no written record and no
word-of-mouth record that this outstanding portrait had been done by
Brumidi but always the painting had occupied a choice location in the
church because of its strength and beauty. One of the little photographs
of religious groupings saved by Lola Germon in her old album of memories
served as identification for the New York portrait to the satisfaction
of the author and to the surprise and gratification of the pastor.
THE BRUMIDI DESK
The Brumidi desk was given by the Italian artist to George Strieby at
the time of the artist’s death. Mr. Strieby not only was a friend of
Brumidi’s but was employed to help the artist with the huge mural in St.
Aloysius Church. The desk was cherished by Mr. Strieby and at his death
was given to his son, Philip. During the lifetime of Philip the Brumidi
desk occupied an honored place in the young Strieby household. At
Philip’s death a relative cleaned out the old desk, without the
knowledge of Mrs. Strieby, and burned certain of Brumidi’s famous
“cartoons” that had been used in making the Capitol frescoes in the
President’s Room and which had been stored through the years in the
secret compartment of the old artist’s desk. However, Mrs. Philip
Strieby continued to watch over the desk with consistent vigilance--out
of sentiment for her husband, her father-in-law and Brumidi.
[Illustration: THE CAPITOL DOME
The Dome of the Capitol Building of the United States actually
symbolized to Constantino Brumidi “life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.” In return for that liberty and security this Italian refugee
dedicated himself in service to his adopted country. He spent the last
twenty-five years of his life “making beautiful the Capitol of the one
country on earth in which there is Liberty.” His crowning effort was the
huge canopy in color--4,664 square feet of concave fresco--covering the
inside of the Dome of the Capitol of the country he had learned to
love.]
It was of great interest to Mrs. Strieby to learn that I had found the
name of George W. Strieby listed as “fresco painter” in the two old Time
Books in the Architect’s office at the Capitol which books consistently
give the earnings both of Strieby and of Brumidi during the last three
years of Brumidi’s life--1877, 1878, and 1879. In many instances the
Strieby signature followed the Brumidi signature in the old Time Books
in spite of an otherwise alphabetical listing of Capitol employees. All
of this lends credence to the story of Mrs. Strieby that Philip’s father
loved the old artist, helped him through his last hard years, and
finally shared responsibility for the burial of Brumidi in Glenwood
Cemetery.
The Brumidi desk is of Cuban mahogany on wild cherry, made around 1820.
It has recently been restored with great skill by Charles McGahan who
has given it a fine finish and a dignified beauty that speaks of Brumidi
and his art.
The old desk is on display in Congressman Murdock’s office--held in
trust for Mrs. Strieby until such time as it can be a part of a Brumidi
memorial cared for by the Government of the United States. Mrs. Strieby
died one week after urging the author to take over responsibility for
the desk. She did not live to see the restored beauty of Brumidi’s last
gift to Grandfather Strieby, but she was happy knowing that her
obligation to Brumidi and to his good friend, Grandfather Strieby, had
been fulfilled.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
The Congress of the United States recently voted an appropriation which
provided a marker and perpetual care for the long lost grave of
Constantino Brumidi in Glenwood Cemetery. This legislation was signed by
President Truman on June 30, 1950. The marker will soon be put in place
with appropriate ceremony and loving tribute.
Even the best 1950 eulogy to Constantino Brumidi, however, cannot
surpass the simple statement of appreciation and understanding offered
on the Floor of the Senate of the United States soon after the death of
the great artist. Said Senator Voorhees of Indiana on February 24, 1880:
“Mr. Brumidi was engaged at the time of his death on what he regarded as
the greatest work of his life. He was unfolding with the magic of genius
in the Dome of the Capitol the scroll of American history, from the
landing of Columbus to the present day. He earnestly desired to live
long enough to complete this vast conception. But he has left an empty
chair, and his great design unfinished, as others have done and will
continue to do in other places.
“At no distant day some memorial will be erected in some appropriate
place in the Capitol to his memory. He who beautifies the pathway of
life, who creates images of loveliness for the human eye to rest upon,
is a benefactor of the human race. He will be crowned by the gratitude
of his own and of succeeding generations. In the older countries of
Europe, where the profession of art has a higher rank than here, Brumidi
would have had a public funeral, and his remains would have been
deposited in ground set apart for persons of distinction. In England he
would have had a place and a tablet in Westminster Abbey.
“It matters little, however, whether we or those who come after us do
anything to perpetuate his memory. The walls of this Capitol will hold
his fame fresh and ever increasing as long as they themselves shall
stand.”
Supplement
READING LIST
BOOKS
BROWN, GLEN. _History of the United States Capitol_, Washington, D.
C., Government Printing Office, 1900-03.
FRY, SMITH DUNBAR. _Thrilling Story of the Wonderful Capitol
Building and Its Marvelous Decorations, Washington_, D. C., 1911.
FAIRMAN, CHARLES E. _Art and Artists of the Capitol of the United
States_, Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, 1927 (69th
Congress, 1st Session, Senate Document 95).
FRY, SMITH D. _Fry’s Patriotic Story of the Capitol_, Washington,
D. C. Rufus H. Carby Printing Company, 1911.
HAZELTON, GEORGE C. _The National Capitol, Its Architecture, Art,
and History_, New York, J. F. Taylor and Company, 1903.
HEPBURN AND A COMMISSION, _Documentary History of the Construction
and Development of the United States Capitol Building and Grounds_,
Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, 1903-04 (58th
Congress, 2nd Session, House Report No. 646).
KEIM, DE B. RANDOLPH. _Keim’s Capitol Interior and Diagrams_,
Washington, D. C. McGill & Witherow, 1874.
WYETH, S. D. _Description of Brumidi’s Allegorical Painting within
the Canopy of the Rotunda_, Washington, D. C., Gibson Bros.,
Printers, 1866.
ROMANO, FILIPPO AGRICOLA, _Report of Restorations of the Vatican
upon Those Painted by the School of Raphael_. Printing House of
Crispino Puccinelli, Rome, 1842.
DENNISON, ELEANOR E., _The Senate Foreign Relations Committee_.
Stanford University Press, 1942.
NEWSPAPERS
_The Washington Post_
“Death of Brumidi,” Feb. 20, 1880.
“Historical Frieze in Capitol Finished after Many Years,” Jan. 16,
1921.
_The Washington Star_
“Funeral of Constantino Brumidi,” Feb. 21, 1880.
“The President’s Room at the Capitol,” April 13, 1913.
“Artist Is Restoring Capitol’s Great Paintings,” April 13, 1919.
“Brumidi Paintings Found in Washington after a Search of Forty
Years,” Nov. 2, 1919.
“Moberly Restoring Brumidi Decorations at Capitol,” Aug. 14, 1921.
_The Daily Evening Telegraph_
“Death of Brumidi,” Feb. 19, 1880.
“Constantino Brumidi,” Feb. 20, 1880.
_The New York Daily Tribune_
“The Decoration of the Capitol,” May 17, 1858.
“The Decorations of the Capitol,” Signed Guglielmo Gajani, May 31,
1858.
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS
AMERICAN ARTISTS. “Memorial to the Senate and the House of
Representatives of the United States,” Washington, D. C.,
Government Printing Office, March 3, 1859. (35th Congress, 2nd
Session, Report No. 198.)
CURTIS, CARLTON B. “Defence of Italian Art,” Congressional Globe,
Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, June 15, 1860.
HARRIS, CONG. “Condemning Brumidi Art,” Congressional Globe,
Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, June 15, 1860.
LOVEJOY, OWEN. “Ridicule of Brumidi,” Congressional Globe,
Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, May 19, 1858. (35th
Congress, 1st Session.)
MORRILL, SENATOR JUSTIN S. “Eulogizing Brumidi,” Congressional
Record, Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, Feb. 24,
1880.
SHEPPARD, CONG. HARRY. “Poems by Carlyle on Brumidi,” Congressional
Record, Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, March 31,
1944.
VOORHEES, SENATOR. “Eulogizing Brumidi,” Congressional Record,
Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, Feb. 24, 1880.
REPORTS OF CAPITOL ARCHITECTS
MEIGS, CAPTAIN M. C.
Annual Report, Oct. 27, 1859, Washington, D. C., Government
Printing Office. (Completion of President’s Room.)
WALTER, THOMAS U.
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1863, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (Beginning of Dome Canopy.)
CLARK, EDWARD
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1865, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (Completion of Dome Canopy.)
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1870, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (Senate Reception Room.)
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1871, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (Military Affairs Committee Room.)
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1872, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (Senate Reception Room.)
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1874, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (“Signing of First Treaty with Great Britain.”)
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1875, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (“Session of Louisiana,” and “Bellona.”)
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1877, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (Rotunda Frieze.)
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1880, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (Death of Brumidi.)
Annual Report, Nov. 1, 1881, Washington, D. C., Government Printing
Office. (Brumidi’s small-sized cartoons.)
MISCELLANEOUS
BRUMIDI LETTERS--Compiled by the Architect’s Office of the Capitol.
BRUMIDI LETTERS--Saved by Laurence Brumidi.
BRUMIDI ALBUM--Saved by Lola Brumidi.
BRUMIDI VOUCHERS--Compiled by the Architect’s Office of the U. S.
Capitol. (July 3, 1855, to Feb. 19, 1880.)
DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY (Authenticated Article on
Brumidi).
ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA (17 lines on Brumidi).
TIGHE, JOSEPHINE GILLENVATER--“Brumidi, Michelangelo of the
Capitol.” Fine Arts Journal, Aug. 1910.
THIEME AND BECKER--Short Sketch of Brumidi.
Brumidi Paintings Found in Washington after a Search of Forty Years.
BOX 1
1 Framed Picture, Five Female Figures
1 Framed Picture Panel
1 Framed Picture Panel
1 Framed Picture, Woman and Man
1 Oval Portrait (Mrs. Brumidi)
1 Large Picture, The Five Senses (Same as at Museum)
BOX 2
1 Sketch, Child Study
1 Framed Bust Portrait, Female
1 Study, Cross
1 Study, Presentation in the Temple
1 Painting, Mother and Child
1 Sleeping Child
3 Studies
1 Sketch for Dome Ceiling
1 Sketch, Transportation
1 Oval Sketch, Nuts and Trees
1 Portrait of Washington, after G. Stuart
1 Framed Study
1 Portrait Boy Franklin
1 Oval Portrait of Mrs. Brumidi
1 Portrait Study, Prayer
1 Circular Canvas, Design for Ceiling of Dome
Above list presumably compiled by Charles E. Fairman, Art Curator,
U. S. Capitol, who was present at the time the boxes containing the
Brumidi Paintings were opened.
BRUMIDI CAPITOL DECORATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ROOM
(_Old Agriculture Committee Room_)
_Wall Frescoes_
Calling of Cincinnatus from the Plow
Calling of Putnam from the Plow to the Revolution
_Ceiling Fresco Groups_
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
_Medallion Heads in oil_ (_wall_)
Washington
Jefferson
_Scenes in Oil_ (_wall_)
Cutting Grain with a Sickle
Harvesting Grain with a McCormick Reaper
“_Painted in 1855_” (_from a statement left by Brumidi_)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CHAMBER
_Wall painting_ (_working sketch saved by Lola Germon_)
“Washington at Yorktown receiving the officer sent by Cornwallis to
ask a two days’ cessation of hostilities.”
“C. BRUMIDI, artist,
Citizen of the U.S.”
_Letter to Superintendent of Capitol Extension, December 14, 1857_
PRESIDENT’S ROOM, SENATE EXTENSION
_Symbolic Fresco Groups_ (_ceiling Madonnas_)
Executive Authority
Legislation
Liberty
Religion
_Life-size Ceiling Portraits in Fresco_
Brewster (Religion)
Columbus (Discovery)
Franklin (History)
Vespucius (Exploration)
_Ceiling to Floor Panels with Portraits of Washington’s First
Cabinet_
Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State
Edmund Randolph, Attorney General
Henry Knox, Secretary of War
Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of Treasury
Samuel Osgood, Postmaster General
_Oil Portrait of George Washington_ (_decorative_)
“_Will be finished by the next meeting of Congress_” (_From
Architect’s Report, Oct. 27, 1859_)
CAPITOL DOME
_Apotheosis of Washington_ (_Fresco_)
(_working sketch sold in 1925 auction_)
Washington
Freedom
Victory
13 Female Figures
_Emblematic Groups_ (_Fresco_)
Agriculture (Ceres)
Mechanics (Vulcan)
Commerce (Mercury)
Marine (Neptune)
Arts and Sciences (Minerva)
War (Freedom)
“C. BRUMIDI, 1865”
_Architect’s Report, November 1, 1865_
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE ROOMS
SOUTH ROOM (OLD MILITARY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE ROOM)
_Large Lunettes_ (_Wall Frescoes_)
Boston Massacre, 1770
Battle of Lexington, 1775 (working sketch saved by Capt. Meigs)
Death of Wooster, 1777
Washington at Valley Forge, 1778
Storming of Stony Point, 1779 (working sketch saved by Capt. Meigs)
_Frescoed Ceiling_
Victors’ Wreaths, Shields, and Emblems of War
Medallion Head of Liberty
NORTH ROOM (OLD NAVAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE ROOM)
_9 Panels in oil_ (_walls_)
Female figures with Navy attributes
_Ceiling Frescoes_
Marine Gods and Goddesses
_Ancient Porticoes in oil_ (_wall_)
_Architect’s Report, November 1, 1871_
_Letter to Architect Clark, May 1, 1871_
SENATE RECEPTION ROOM
(_Name not changed_)
_Allegorical Groupings in Fresco_ (_ceiling_)
Groined Arch (working sketch saved by Capt. Meigs)
Liberty
Plenty
War
Peace
Circular Arch
Prudence
Justice
Temperance
Strength
_Panels in chiaroscuro_ (_walls_)
Decorative Figures
_Wall Centerpiece in Oil_ (_working sketch owned by Warrenton
House_)
Washington in Consultation with Jefferson and Hamilton
_Architect’s Report, November 1, 1872_
_Letter to Architect Clark, May 1, 1871_
SENATE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COMMITTEE ROOMS
LARGE ROOM (DECORATED FOR SENATE LIBRARY)
_Allegorical Groups_ (_Ceiling Frescoes_)
Geography
History (working sketch saved by Lola Germon)
Telegraph (working sketch sold at 1925 auction)
_Decorative Groups_ (_Ceiling Frescoes_)
Three maidens each (working sketch saved by Lola Germon)
SMALL ROOM (OLD SERGEANT AT ARMS OFFICE)
_Allegorical Designs_ (_Wall Frescoes_)
Secession and Products of North and South
War and Strife
Rods United--“E Pluribus Unum”
Implements of War Destroyed
_Ceiling Fresco_
“Columbia Welcoming the South Back into the Union” (working sketch
sold in 1925 auction)
“C. BRUMIDI, 1876.”
_Architect’s Report, November 1, 1875_
CORRIDORS, GROUND FLOOR, SENATE ANNEX
SOUTH CORRIDOR
_8 Studies in oil_ (_Animals_)
_8 Ovals in oil_ (_U. S. Shields_)
“PATENT CORRIDOR”
_Wall Frescoes_
Robert Fulton (called also “Palisades of the Hudson”)
John Fitch (working on model of steamboat)
Benjamin Franklin (in his laboratory)
_Brumidi Voucher, 1873_
NORTH CORRIDOR
_Profiles in oil_ (_Medallions in wall Panels_)
Jonathan Trumbull
Daniel Morgan
Israel Putnam
Horatio Gates
Thomas Mifflin
Silas Deane
Joseph Warren
Richard Montgomery
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Franklin
_Large Fresco, “Signing of the First Treaty of Peace with Great
Britain, 1782”_
John Adams
Benjamin Franklin
John Jay
Henry Laurens
Richard Oswald (for Great Britain)
_Large Fresco, “Cession of Louisiana”_
Robert Livingston
James Monroe
Barbe-Marbois (for France)
_Architect’s Reports, November 1, 1874, and November 1, 1875_
WEST CORRIDOR
_13 Oval Landscapes in Oil_ (_Walls and Ceiling_)
_12 Signs of the Zodiac_ (_ceiling_)
_Profiles in oil_ (_Medallions in wall Panels_)
John Hancock
Francis Hopkins
Robert Livingston
Roger Sherman
John Jay
Robert Morris
Charles Thompson
Charles Carroll
_Large Fresco, Bellona, Roman Goddess of War_
_Vaulted Ceilings, Walls and Pilasters_ (_Style of 15th Century_)
_Architect’s Report, November 1, 1875_
MAIN CORRIDOR
_14 Oval Landscapes in Oil_ (_Walls and Ceiling_)
_Large Portraits in Oil_ (_Walls_)
Justice Story
Chancellor Kent
_Profiles in Oil_
Andrew Jackson
Henry Clay
_Imitation Sculpture_
Chancellor Livingston
_Brumidi Voucher, August 21, 1878_
THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE ROOM
_Large Medallions_ (_Profiles of Committee Chairmen_)
North wall--Henry Clay, Chairman, 1834 to 1836
South wall--William S. Allen, Chairman, 1845 to 1846
East wall--Simon E. Cameron, Chairman, 1871 to 1877
West wall--Charles W. Sumner, Chairman, 1861 to 1871
_Brumidi Voucher, June 21, 1874_
CAPITOL ROTUNDA
_Frieze Frescoes in Imitation Sculpture_
(Seven finished by Brumidi)
Landing of Columbus 1492
Entry of Cortez into Mexico 1521
Pizarro’s Conquest of Peru 1533
Midnight Burial of DeSoto 1541
Pocahontas Saving John Smith 1606
Landing of the Pilgrims 1620
Penn’s Treaty with the Indians 1682
_Frieze Frescoes in Imitation Sculpture_
(Original Designs made by Brumidi)
Scene in Plymouth Colony 1620
Peace Treaty, Oglethorpe and the Indians 1732
Battle of Lexington 1775
Reading of The Declaration of Independence 1776
Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown 1781
Death of Tecumseh 1813
General Scott’s Entry into Mexico 1847
Discovery of Gold in California 1848
_Architect’s Reports, October 1, 1877; October 1, 1880; October 1,
1884_
1855
July 3, 1855--Fresco work, extension of U. S. Capitol, April 1 to
June 30, 1855; 78 days @ $8 per day--$624.00
Aug. 2, 1855--Fresco work, extension U. S. Capitol, July 1 to July
31, 1855; 26 days @ $8 per day--$208.00
Nov. 30, 1855--Fresco work, extension U. S. Capitol, Aug. 1 to Nov.
30, 1855; 105 days @ $8 per day--$840.00
1856
Mar. 4, 1856--Fresco work, Agricultural Committee Room, Dec. 1,
1855, to Feb. 11, 1856; 62 days @ $8 per day--$496.00
Color and Brushes, Agricultural Com. Room; 8 paintings @
$13.50--$108.00
Fresco work, extension U. S. Capitol, Feb. 12 to Feb. 29, 1856; 16
days @ $8 per day--$128.00
June 26, 1856--Designs and cartoons, Capitol Extension, Ceiling
Fresco work, March 1 to 31 May, 1856; 79 days @ $8--$632.00
1857
Jan. 9, 1857--Fresco work, extension U. S. Capitol, June 12 to Dec.
31, 1856; 183 days @ $8 per day--$1,464.00
July 6, 1857--Fresco work, extension U. S. Capitol, April 1 to June
30, 1857; 78 days @ $10 per day--$780.00
Nov. 4, 1857--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Sept. 1 to Oct.
31, 1857; 53 days @ $10 per day--$530.00
Dec. 4, 1857--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Nov. 1 to Nov.
30, 1857; 25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
1858
Jan. 6, 1858--Painting rooms, U. S. Capitol Extension, Dec. 1 to
Dec. 31, 1857; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Feb. 3, 1858--Painting rooms, U. S. Capitol Extension, Jan. 1 to
Jan. 31, 1858; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Mar. 5, 1858--Painting rooms, U. S. Capitol Extension, Feb. 1 to
Feb. 28, 1858; 24 days @ $10 per day--$240.00
Mar. 31, 1858--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Mar 1 to Mar
31, 1858; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Sept. 1, 1858--Painting rooms, U. S. Capitol Extension, Aug. 1 to
Aug. 31, 1858; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Sept. 30, 1858--Painting rooms, U. S. Capitol Extension, Sept. 1 to
Sept. 30, 1858; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Nov. 1, 1858--Painting rooms, U. S. Capitol Extension, Oct. 1 to
Oct. 31, 1858; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Dec. 1, 1858--Painting rooms, U. S. Capitol Extension, Nov. 1 to
Nov. 30, 1858; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
1859
Jan. 1, 1859--For services during month of December, 1858; 27 days
@ $10 per day--$270.00
Feb. 1, 1859--For services during month of January, 1859; 27 days @
10 per day--$270.00 (One day overpaid. Corrected in Mar. voucher)
Mar. 1, 1859--For services during month of February, 1859; 24 days
@ $10 per day--$240.00
Mar. 31, 1859--For services during month of March, 1859; 27 days @
$10 per day--$270.00 (Less 1 day overpaid in January)--$260.00
May 1, 1859--For services during month of April, 1859; 26 days @
$10 per day--$260.00
June 1, 1859--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, May 1 to May
31, 1859; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Aug. 1, 1859--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, July 1 to July
31, 1859; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Sept. 1, 1859--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Aug. 1 to Aug.
31, 1859; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Oct. 1, 1859--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Sept. 1 to
Sept. 30, 1859; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Nov. 1, 1859--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Oct. 1 to Oct.
31, 1859; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Dec. 1, 1859--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Nov. 1 to Nov.
30, 1859; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
1860
Jan. 2, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Dec. 1 to Dec.
31, 1859; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Feb. 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Jan. 1 to Jan.
31, 1860; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Mar. 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Feb. 1 to Feb.
29, 1860; 25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
Apr. 6, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Mar. 1 to Mar.
31, 1860; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
May 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Apr. 1 to Apr.
30, 1860; 25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
June 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, May 1 to May
31, 1860; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
July 2, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, June 1 to June
30, 1860; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Aug. 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, July 1 to July
31, 1860; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Sept. 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Aug. 1 to Aug
31, 1860; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Oct. 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Sept. 1 to
Sept. 30, 1860; 25 days @--$10 per day--$250.00
Nov. 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Oct. 1 to Oct.
31, 1860; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Dec. 1, 1860--Fresco work, U. S. Capitol Extension, Nov. 1 to Nov.
30, 1860; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
1860--Vouchers Nos. 21, 12, $4,000.00 (For work on Dome Canopy
cartoons)
1861
Jan. 1, 1861--For services in painting from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31,
1860; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Feb. 1, 1861--For services in painting from Jan. 1 to Jan. 31,
1861; 27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Feb. 28, 1861--For services in painting from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28,
1861; 24 days @ $10 per day--$240.00
Apr. 1, 1861--For services in painting from Mar. 1 to Mar. 31,
1861; 26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
May 1, 1861--For services in painting from Apr. 1 to Apr. 30, 1861;
26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
June 1, 1861--For services in painting from May 1 to May 31, 1861;
27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
1863
Aug. 4, 1863--For work on Cartoons for fresco painting over the eye
of the new Dome--$2,000.00
Aug. 4, 1863--For services, painting in fresco, from May 9 to June
30, 1863; 45 days @ $10 per day--$450.00. Less income tax, 45 days
@ 24c per day--$10.80--$439.20
Aug. 31, 1863--For work on Cartoons for fresco painting on canopy
over the eye of the New Dome--$2,000.00
Sept. 30, 1863--For work on Cartoons for fresco painting on canopy
over the eye of the New Dome--$2,000.00
1864
Dec. 3, 1864--For work on Cartoons for fresco painting on canopy
over the eye of the New Dome--$1,000.00
Dec. 3, 1864--For services, painting in fresco in Sergeant-at-arms
room, U. S. Senate, from July 1 to July 31, 1863; 26 days @ $10 per
day--$260.00. Less income tax of $10.49--$249.51
1865
Aug. 1, 1865--For work on the Fresco painting over the Eye of the
New Dome, month of July--$2,000.00
Aug. 31, 1865--For work on the Fresco Painting over the Eye of the
New Dome, month of August--$2,000.00
Dec. 1, 1865--For work on the Fresco Painting over the Eye of the
New Dome, from Sept. 1 to date--$2,000.00. Vouchers 21, 5,
11--$2,500,00.
1866
Apr. 18, 1866--For work on the Fresco Painting over the Eye of the
New Dome from Dec. 1, 1865, to Jan. 16, 1866--$2,500.00. Vouchers
1, 6, 7, 8--$8,000.00
June 9, 1866--Balance of contract price of $40,000 for Dome Canopy,
less $500.00 retained until Picture is properly toned and
blended--$9,500.00
1867
Nov. 20, 1867--For finishing the ceiling of the Post Office Room of
the U. S. Senate, as per authority of the Secretary of the
Interior, dated Aug 13, 1866, for designing and painting three
panels and three corner groups of figures, all in real
Fresco--$4,989.00
1870
Nov. 22, 1870--For decorating South wall of Senate Reception
Room--$1,000.00
1871
May 7, 1871--For approximate estimate for painting one panel in the
Room on Military Affairs of U. S. Senate--$500.00
July 8, 1871--For approximate estimate for painting one panel in
the room of Military Affairs of the U. S. Senate--$250.00
July 17, 1871--For decorating one Lunette on the South wall of the
Senate Reception Room--$1,000.00
Aug. 28, 1871--For approximate estimate for painting in fresco on
walls and ceiling of Senate Committee Room on Military
Affairs--$1,000.00
Oct. 19, 1871--For painting in fresco 3 panels in Committee Room on
Military Affairs, Senate Wing, U. S. Capitol, viz: _Washington at
Valley Forge_, _Storming of Stony Point_, _Boston Massacre_, @
$1,000 each--$3,000.00
For painting in Fresco 3 groups of children over doorways--$300.00
Nov. 23, 1871--For decorating three panels consisting of figures and
medallions in the Reception Room of U. S. Senate--$2,000.00
1872
Nov. 2, 1872--For approximate estimate for painting medallion in
Committee Room of Foreign Affairs of the Senate and for decorating
the Senate Reception Room--$250.00
Nov. 29, 1872--For approximate estimate for painting picture of
Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton on the walls of the Senate
Reception Room--$250.00
1873
May 26, 1873--For approximate estimate for painting portraits of
Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton on the walls of the Senate
Reception Room--$500.00
Nov. 28, 1873--For painting in Fresco the picture of Robert Fulton
in the Senate Wing, in passage in front of the room of Committee on
Patents--$500.00
1874
June 21, 1874--For painting four medallion portraits in the
Committee Room of Foreign Affairs, U. S. Senate, @ $50
each--$200.00
Nov. 11, 1874--For painting in Fresco over the entrance of the room
of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, the picture of the Signing of
the First Treaty with Great Britain--$600.00
Painting a medallion bust in the same room--$50.00
1877
TIME BOOK ENTRIES
March 1877--12½ days @ $10 per day--$125.00
April 1877--12½ days @ $10 per day--$125.00
May 1877--15½ days @ $10 per day--$155.00
June 1877--13 days @ $10 per day--$130.00
July 1877--25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
Aug. 1877--27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Sept. 1877--25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
Oct. 1877--27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Nov. 1877--25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
Dec. 1877--13 days @ $10 per day--$130.00
1878
TIME BOOK ENTRIES
Jan. 1878--13½ days @ $10 per day--$135.00
Feb. 1878--12 days @ $10 per day--$120.00
Mar. 1878--13 days @ $10 per day--$130.00
Apr. 1878--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
May 1878--27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
June 1878--25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
July 1878--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Aug. 1878--27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Sept. 1878--25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
Oct. 1878--16½ days @ $10 per day--$165.00
Nov. 1878--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Dec. 1878--25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
Aug. 24, 1878--For painting in Fresco the portraits of Justice
Story, Chancellor Kent, at North end of Basement story--$400.00
For painting Bust in light and shade of Chancellor Livingston at
same location--$100.00
1879
TIME BOOK ENTRIES
Jan. 1879--27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Feb. 1879--24 days @ $10 per day--$240.00
Mar. 1879--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Apr. 1879--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
May 1879--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
June 1879--25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
July 1879--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Aug. 1879--24 days @ $10 per day--$240.00
Sept. 1879--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
Oct. 1879--27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
Nov. 1879--25 days @ $10 per day--$250.00
Dec. 1879--26 days @ $10 per day--$260.00
1880
TIME BOOK ENTRY
Jan. 1880--27 days @ $10 per day--$270.00
BRUMIDI EARNINGS BY YEARS
1855 $ 1,672.00
1856 1,364.00
1857 3,024.00
1858 2,080.00
1859 2,870.00
1860 7,140.00
1861 1,560.00
1863 6,439.20
1864 1,249.51
1865 8,500.00
1866 20,000.00
1867 4,989.00
1870 1,000.00
1871 8,050.00
1872 500.00
1873 1,000.00
1874 850.00
1877 1,955.00
1878 3,120.00
1879 3,080.00
1880 270.00
----------
Grand Total $80,712.71
[Illustration: WORKING SKETCHES FOR THE ROTUNDA FRIEZE RECENTLY FOUND]
The availability of the priceless scroll of working sketches for the
Rotunda Frieze has been too late for detailed study at this time and
almost too late for a place in this Brumidi book. However, the sketch of
the Landing of the Pilgrims reproduced above gives the reader an
opportunity to make his own comparisons between one working sketch and
its actual rendition in fresco on the belt encircling the Rotunda of the
Capitol, as appears on page forty-four.
James H. Rowe, grandnephew of Lola Germon, owns these working sketches
for the Rotunda Frieze. The groupings, as planned by Brumidi and
sketched on a long and narrow piece of brown wrapping paper, frequently
spliced, bears the Brumidi signature and is dated 1859. This prize
scroll, thirteen inches wide and some thirty feet long, was given to Mr.
Rowe by his grand aunt, Lola Germon. It has been well protected.
The outline drawings themselves are executed in sepia water color with
shadows in black and high lights in white. The original titles given to
these scroll groupings and written by Brumidi in pencil beneath each
sketch vary somewhat from the list preserved in the Architect’s office
of the Capitol, yet the subject matter is essentially the same.
Brumidi’s title for this “vast conception,” so far as I know, appears in
no other record.
At the beginning of the scroll is the artist’s own penciled legend for
the Rotunda Frieze, “America and History.”
THIS STUDY OF “_Constantino Brumidi_, MICHELANGELO OF THE
UNITED STATES CAPITOL,” WAS PUBLISHED BY THE MONUMENTAL
PRESS, INC., WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 1950.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI,
MICHELANGELO OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL ***
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