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.
BRUMIDI WORKING SKETCHES
Brumidi’s technique is of great interest. First, he executed his design in color on a small canvas in oil. This he termed a working sketch. Then he drew the large outline figures which he called cartoons with the miniature oil before him. These large cartoons served as stencils through which he dusted powder or charcoal, thus outlining his groups quickly upon the wall or ceiling.
The Brumidi working sketches found in Washington during recent years are in a wonderfully fine state of preservation, whether they have come directly from the hand of Lola Germon or from Laurence Brumidi’s storage cache found in 1919, or from other sources. Most of the canvases have in no manner been restored or retouched but the colors are soft and true and pleasing. Those art lovers who fear that certain Capitol decorations may have suffered by “restorations” have but to compare the Capitol fresco with its working sketch to be reassured.
Mrs. Ashmun Brown owns working sketches for four of the frescoes in the Capitol Building, “History,” “Physics,” and “The Three Graces” in the District of Columbia Committee Room of the Senate, and for the “Cornwallis-Washington” mural in the House of Representatives Chamber. Mrs. Brown also has the Brumidi working sketches for four of his religious paintings.
In addition to being the grandniece of Lola Germon, Mrs. Brown is the wife of the late Ashmun Brown, the Washington correspondent who wrote the Capitol officials back in 1925 advising them that an auction of Brumidi paintings was scheduled, and urging the Government to investigate the treasures. Mrs. Brown received four of her Brumidi paintings direct from Aunt Lola Germon, and five more were purchased at the auction in 1925. She regrets not having bought, at that auction, the two portraits of Lola Germon by Brumidi, as these two paintings have not yet been found.
Mrs. Harvey Hunt who attended the Brumidi auction of 1925 with Mrs. Ashmun Brown, purchased four of the Brumidi paintings. Two of these are working sketches of cherubs, one bearing the Brumidi signature; another, a sketch of Lola Germon used for “Prudence” in the Senate Reception Room; and the fourth, an oval landscape much like those painted on the walls of the main corridor on the ground floor of the Senate Annex.
Mrs. Hunt being a grandniece of Lola Germon gave three of her treasures to a grandnephew of her Aunt Lola so today three of these working sketches are in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Germon.