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.