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
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.