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[Contents.]
[List of Illustrations] (In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers] clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.) (etext transcriber's note) |
CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI
MICHELANGELO
OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL
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
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
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.
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
Illustrations
[* Indicates real fresco.]
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 of the Capitol, and his name will ever be associated with the history and beauty of our world renowned National building.”
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.
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: