Constantino Brumidi, Michelangelo of the United States Capitol

by Myrtle Cheney Murdock

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.