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
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.