1

1

2

5

5

3

34

5
groups of figures were essential. Brumidi developed a

high level of skill in these areas and won awards in student competitions for copying antique sculpture and

paintings by others.4

The Technique of True Fresco

In order to paint in the classical tradition, Brumidi had to

master a variety of painting media, particularly the difficult medium of true fresco, called buon fresco in Italian.

The Capitol is the major building in the United States

decorated in true fresco. Although in nineteenth-century

America the word “fresco” was sometimes loosely used to

mean wall painting in general, Brumidi believed that he

created “the first specimen of real fresco introduced in

America,” and he was the only artist working in the

United States in the 1850s and 1860s known to be capable of executing a true fresco painting. 

Brumidi described the technique as follows:

Fresco derives its name from fresh mortar, and is the

immdiate [sic] and rapid application of mineral colors, diluted in water, to the fresh mortar just put

upon the wall, thereby the colors are absorbed by the

mortar during its freshness, and repeating this

process in sections day by day, till the entire picture

will be compleated [sic].

This superior metod [sic] is much admired in the

celebrated works of the old masters, and is proper for

historical subjects, or Classical ornamentations, like

the Loggie of Raffael at the Vatican.5

Fresco, used for murals in ancient Rome, became

prominent again in the Renaissance and reached a height

Constantino Brumidi used a number of specialized

painting techniques and sophisticated artistic skills

to express his artistic vision in the Capitol (fig.

3–1). Knowledge of the variety of Brumidi’s painting

media and procedures has greatly increased from observations made during the course of recent conservation

treatments that removed layers of varnish and overpaint

and through scientific analysis of materials. However, research and analysis are ongoing.1

Brumidi was trained in a variety of disciplines at the

Accademia di San Luca; his son described him as “artist,

sculptor, architect.”2 Brumidi himself described to a reporter his thorough academic training: “‘In Europe one

studies as one does not study in America,’ with an eloquent Italian shrug that disposed of American art-training. ‘I studied fourteen years. I worked at Rome. In the

great schools a boy begins young; he has great works to

copy. He works all day and every day. It is the right

way.’”3 As a student he would have had courses in

geometry, history, and mythology. He copied drawings,

drew and modeled copies of classical sculpture, and

copied paintings by others. Working from a live model

was highly desirable, and Brumidi once signed a petition

to the academy requesting one. Knowledge of how to

render forms with light and shade, command of the

human figure, and understanding of how to compose

25

CHAPTER 3

Brumidi’s Painting Techniques

Fig. 3–1. The President’s Room. In the Capitol, Brumidi 

employed the full range of painting techniques he had learned in

Rome to create rich and impressive settings for important legislative

functions. Here the mural techniques include (1) true fresco, (2)

tempera, (3) oil, (4) lime wash fresco, and (5) gold leaf. S–216.
of perfection with Raphael and Michelangelo in the early

sixteenth century. The Baroque painters of the seventeenth century applied pigment more thickly, using more

vigorous, textured brushwork on rougher mortar, and it

was this version of fresco that was revived in early nineteenth-century Rome and taught to Brumidi. (A century

later, in the 1930s, fresco was again revived and used for

a number of murals in the United States.)

True fresco entails the application of pigments dispersed in water to fresh, damp mortar (often referred to

as plaster) composed of lime (calcium hydroxide) and

sand. The wall is first prepared with a rough coat of mortar (arriccio). The pigment is applied to the second finish

coat (intonaco), which is applied in sections over the arriccio by a mason. Each section of intonaco is called a

giornata, the Italian word for day’s work, because the

painting on each section of intonaco has to be completed

in a single day, before the mortar has set—that is, while it

is still fresh, or fresco in Italian. The joins between the

giornate are normally discernible only in raking light or

on close-up inspection of the surface (fig. 3–2). The

mason needs to mix the ingredients consistently and be

careful not to splash on the sections already painted.

The very considerable technical difficulties of executing

true fresco become evident when one considers that a

fresco painter like Brumidi is really constructing a complex but precise monumental work of art like a puzzle,

piece by piece, giornata by giornata (fig. 3–3). This

painted puzzle must be so accurately planned and executed that the parts will blend together and that it will be

possible to create forms that appear to be components of

their architectural environment.

As the mortar sets, or cures, it is transformed from calcium hydroxide to calcium carbonate by combining with

carbon dioxide in the air, becoming rock hard in the

process.6 The pigments are incorporated into the crystalline structure of the calcium carbonate, resulting in a

mural painting that is essentially as durable as the wall itself. The fresco painter sometimes mixes the pigments

with a fine lime paste to create a paint with a thicker consistency, called “impasto,” that is raised from the surface

of the wall, and often uses a rougher surface, with larger

grains of sand. Reflective flecks of mica in the sand can be

seen on close inspection of many of the Capitol frescoes.

This baroque technique is often seen in Brumidi’s frescoes. In his frescoes, he often modeled or shaded forms

with hatched lines, to create a sculptural effect while retaining a sense of transparency in his colors (fig. 3–4).

Because the surface of the mortar is wet when the paint

is applied, in the best fresco technique the brush strokes

are not reworked, as is done in oil painting, because the

surface of the mortar would become muddy. Instead,

26

Fig. 3–2. An unusually prominent giornata. Because Brumidi

cut out and replaced the section of mortar containing the head of

Executive Authority, the join was unusually prominent, especially

before conservation. S–216.

Fig. 3–3. Giornate in Executive Authority. The sections of mortar applied each day usually followed outlines of the forms and

varied in size according to the amount of detail to be painted.

S–216.
each brush stroke must be decisive and complete in order

that the painting maintain its freshness, clarity, and luminosity. In addition, the brushwork must be bold and expressive in order to project vitality and three dimensionality from the great distance at which frescoes are normally

viewed. At very close range, therefore, many well-executed frescoes have a choppy, sketchy appearance that

translates into dynamic vitality from a distance.7

In addition to the need to work rapidly, the fresco

painter faces other constraints. First, the fresco palette is

limited to those few pigments that can withstand the corrosive high alkalinity of the lime mortar. These include

the earth pigments, such as indian red, earth green, various ochers, siennas, and umbers, as well as some artificial

colors, such as smalt, cobalt, or ultramarine blue. Second,

major mistakes cannot be corrected by covering over with

new paint. Thus, a flawed giornata must be chipped off

the wall and a new one inserted by applying a new section

of mortar, which is then painted correctly. Finally, the

artist has to be able to judge how much the colors will

lighten as they dry. All these difficulties of execution are

rewarded by the result, a durable monumental painting of

great luminosity and subtle color.

Before beginning a monumental fresco, a painter like

Brumidi must analyze and sketch the architectural space

and sources of light. For example, Brumidi often created

figures that appear to be lighted from the windows in the

room. Next he developed and sketched the overall composition of the murals for a room, showing how the frescoes fit into the architectural and decorative

elements (fig. 3–5). He

then conceptualized the

overall composition and

coloring of each individual fresco on a

preparatory painting,

usually a precisely executed small-scale color

27

BRUMIDI’S PAINTING TECHNIQUES

Fig. 3–4. Detail of fresco. On close inspection, one can see the

rough mortar, Brumidi’s strokes of thick pigment, and his use of

parallel hatched or crosshatched lines for shadows in this cherub’s

face. S–216. 

Photo: Cunningham-Adams.

Fig. 3–5. Design for the

Ladies Waiting Room. Brumidi worked out details for

murals and decorations in

pencil sketches such as this one.

The scenes he proposed in 1856,

but never executed, featured

heroines of the American Revolution such as Betsy Ross and

Molly Pitcher. This sketch includes a design for an ornate

mirror frame.
sketch in oil or watercolor, which would usually be submitted for approval. A number of his sketches for Capitol

murals are known (fig. 3–6). The preparatory painting

was then divided into sections. Brumidi had to know how

to enlarge the preparatory painting to fit the exact dimensions of the wall, while simultaneously dividing the overall composition into sections for systematic transfer to,

and execution on, the individual giornate. The composition of each section was enlarged as a drawing on pieces

28

Fig. 3–7. Detail of cartoon for maiden with pearls. This

photograph is the only known image of one of Brumidi’s full-size

cartoons for the Capitol. The outlines were transferred to the wall

by spolvero, dots made by dusting powdered charcoal through

pinpricks. Architect of the Capitol.

Fig. 3–6. Preparatory oil sketch for Senate Military Affairs Committee room. Brumidi’s small paintings included all

of the essential elements for his frescoed lunettes. Estate of Edna

W. Macomb. 

Photo: Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State.
of heavy paper, to the exact scale of execution. These 1:1

scale drawings are known as cartoons. For large compositions, Brumidi made half-scale cartoons and then enlarged the figures to full size in what he called “working

drawings.”8 Unfortunately, none of his cartoons is known

to have survived, although the image of one was preserved in a photograph (fig. 3–7). 

The appropriate cartoon is tacked in place over the

damp giornata. The outlines of the composition are

transferred to the giornata by incising the cartoon with a

stylus to leave indented guide-lines (incisione), by perforating the outlines of the cartoon with a spiked wheel to

leave a line of points (puntini), and/or by pouncing

through the line of perforations with a colored powder

to leave a colored dotted line (spolvero). These three

types of transfer lines are all visible with close-up inspection in Brumidi’s murals in the Capitol (fig. 3–8). When

the outline is transferred, the artist begins the actual

painting of the composition, using the preparatory painting as his guide. Brumidi would normally paint half a

life-sized figure in a day, using brushes appropriate for

the level of detail (fig. 3–9).

After the fresco dries, the artist may decide to apply

some final details in colors that would react with the lime,

using traditional water-borne tempera paints, oil paints, or

gold leaf, applied on oil or glue adhesives (“sizes”). These

are executed a secco, on a dry (secco in Italian) surface. Unlike true fresco, a secco details generally are fragile and

poorly bonded to the mortar, and they are thus easily damaged by water or abrasion. The extent, if any, of Brumidi’s

application of a secco details to his frescoes is not yet clear. 

29

BRUMIDI’S PAINTING TECHNIQUES

Fig. 3–9. Brumidi’s sketch of brushes to be ordered. A variety of types and sizes of brushes, including French fitches and the tapered sable brushes specified here, were needed for the range of

painting mediums used for the Capitol murals. Architect of 

the Capitol.

a. Incisione

b. Puntini

c. Spolvero

Fig. 3–8. Details showing types of guidelines made in the

wet mortar.

a. Incisione, outlines incised with a sharp instrument around

Columbus’s compass; 

b. Puntini, an outline of small holes made with a spiked wheel

in the knee of Legislature; and 

c. Spolvero, a dotted outline made by dusting powdered charcoal through pinpricks in the cartoon around the head of a

cherub. S–216. 

Photo: Cunningham-Adams.
Other Mural Painting Mediums 

Used in the Capitol

A technique recently discovered to be part of Brumidi’s

repertoire is lime wash fresco, fresco in scialbatura, which

is used to cover large surfaces of simple decoration. The

extensive and repetitive decorative trompe l’oeil panels on

the lower walls of the Brumidi Corridors and the President’s Room (S–216) were executed in this technique

(fig. 3–10). Assistants could quickly apply pigments

mixed with water to a fresh lime wash brushed over a

dampened intonaco to create the fields, borders, and basic

forms. In this method, the giornata joins are not noticeable. In the Brumidi Corridors, the details of the birds,

flowers, etc., were enhanced with more intense colors.9

Microscopic analysis shows that the wall is covered with

several layers of smooth, colored plaster. This technique is

more durable than tempera and can be painted efficiently

by teams of painters.

Brumidi had extensive experience in Italy decorating

walls and ceilings with tempera (often called “distemper” in

the nineteenth century). The decoration of the theater at

the Villa Torlonia in Rome, thought to have been directed

by Brumidi, is executed primarily in tempera.10 Many of the

ceilings and borders in the Capitol were painted in tempera

by assistants from Brumidi’s designs, with spaces left for

Brumidi’s true fresco figures and scenes. 

Tempera is pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder

or emulsion, such as the egg used in the Renaissance. In

the Capitol, the binding medium was glue, explaining the

large quantities of white glue listed on supply orders.11

Tempera can be applied to dry plaster without the time

constraints of true fresco, giving painters the leisure to

work out details. It has a soft, matte surface. The velvety

texture of the tempera is close to the appearance of

fresco, so the difference in medium is indistinguishable at

ordinary viewing distance (fig. 3–11). Unfortunately,

tempera remains water soluble, so that it is sensitive to

changes in humidity and can be inadvertently removed if

someone tries to clean it with water.

Oil paint is composed of pigment mixed with linseed oil

as a binder. It is commonly used for paintings on canvas,

as Brumidi did for portraits and altarpieces, but it can also

be applied to plaster, as he did for some of the murals in

the Capitol (fig. 3–12). It is more durable than tempera,

since it cannot be removed with water. The oil produces

deeper, richer colors and a surface gloss. Since fresco was

not transportable, Brumidi could have carried some

rolled-up oil paintings, such as his Martyrs in a Landscape

(fig. 3–13), to America, as proof of his painting skill.12

In many rooms in the Capitol, Brumidi orchestrated

the use of multiple techniques to create the effect he desired. In most cases, he was so successful that the viewer

is not aware of variations in painting medium.

30

Fig. 3–11. Merging of fresco and tempera. In this detail from

the ceiling, Brumidi painted toes in tempera on the cherub’s frescoed foot, a difference not perceptible from the floor. S–216. 

Photo: Cunningham-Adams. 

Fig. 3–10. Detail showing lime-wash fresco. The still lifes and

illusionistic carved stone borders in the President’s Room exemplify

the delicate details and rich colors possible with this technique.

S–216. 
Architectural Painting

In addition to his well-developed skill in working in various media, Brumidi was gifted in the use of rich color

and in understanding how to depict forms in light and

shade (fig. 3–14). The technique of creating the effects

of light and shade and perspective to convince the viewer

that he is looking at actual sculpture, paintings with

carved frames, or figures floating on clouds, is called

“trompe l’oeil,” French for “fool the eye.” His skill in

creating trompe l’oeil effects was undoubtedly enhanced

by his study of sculpture at the Accademia di San Luca.

Brumidi’s only known sculptures are the four marble

lunettes in low relief, two angels, and the crucifixion over

the altar in the Weld-Clifford Chapel in the crypt of the

Church of San Marcello al Corso in Rome (fig. 3–15). It

is not known if Brumidi was responsible only for the design, or if he modeled or carved the sculpture as well.13

31

BRUMIDI’S PAINTING TECHNIQUES

Fig. 3–12. Cherub in lunette painted in oil

on plaster. The rich color, soft modeling, and

fine detail are characteristic of the oil medium.

S–216. 

Photo: Cunningham-Adams.

Fig. 3–13. Martyrs in a Landscape. This oil-oncanvas painting, which Brumidi is said to have

brought with him from Italy, apparently depicts Early

Christian martyrs. Architect of the Capitol.

Fig. 3–14. Sketch from Brumidi’s album. This classical figure

with leaves instead of legs, perhaps copied from a relief in Rome, uses

light and dark to give a three-dimensional effect. Library 

of Congress.

Photo: Library of Congress. 
In the Capitol, he merely sketched a preliminary design

for the Brumidi Staircases.

Although there is no evidence that Brumidi ever carried

out architectural work, his understanding of the dynamics

of architectural space is evident in his designs for the Capitol. This mastery was grounded in his work in Rome,

which included the decoration of rooms in the Palazzo

Torlonia (see chapter 2). His one known Italian architectural project is a proposal made in 1846 for a grandiose

new avenue from the Quirinale to the Vatican, which included the construction of a monumental bridge and a triumphal arch in honor of Pius IX.14 The only evidence of

Brumidi’s interest in urban planning in the United States

is a proposal, dated May 1862, for an elevated railroad on

Broadway in New York City, which was found among the

papers of the Architect of the Capitol Extensions and

Dome, Thomas U. Walter (fig. 3–16). Brumidi’s knowledge of sculpture and architecture enhanced his ability to

visualize three-dimensional forms in space and paint them

convincingly on flat surfaces within a harmonious whole,

thus fooling our eyes into believing we are seeing sculpture and moldings projecting from flat walls (fig. 3–17).

His arrival in the United States in 1852 was at a fortunate

moment for his career. Only a year earlier, work had

begun on the enlargment of the United States Capitol.

32

Fig. 3–16. Project for the Broadway Rail Road, 1862. This

pencil drawing is the only one that has survived of this project, and

it hints that Brumidi may have been involved in urban planning.

Athenaeum of Philadelphia.

Photo: Athenaeum of Philadelphia.

Fig. 3–15. Pietà, one of four marble relief lunettes by Brumidi for a subterranean chapel. The figures are gracefully balanced within the semicircular shape, a skill Brumidi would use

later in the lunettes in the Capitol. Weld-Clifford Chapel,

Church of San Marcello al Corso, Rome. 

Photo: Vasari Studio Fotografico. Courtesy of Henry Hope Reed.
the calcium hydroxide reacts with carbon dioxide to re-form calcium

carbonate (Ca(OH)2 + CO2 = CaCO3 + H2O).

7. Christy Cunningham-Adams, “Conservation Treatment Report:

U.S. Capitol, President’s Room Ceiling,” 1995, p. 18, AOC/CO.

8. MCMJ, April 18, 1855 (A–527); “Brumidi’s Life Work,” p. 1.

9. Christy Cunningham-Adams, “Brumidi Corridors Restoration

Plan,” January 4, 1994, AOC/CO, and Mora et al., “Conservation of

Wall Paintings,” p. 11.

10. Conversation with Alberta Campitelli, Curator of the Villas of

Rome, August 16, 1994, and her article on the restoration, “Il programma di restauro di Villa Torlonia: primi interventi,” in “Villa Torlonia,” Ricerche di Storia dell’arte, n. 28–29 (1986), pp. 182–223.

11. Supply orders for Brumidi, 1856–1863, AOC/EXT.

12. The painting was donated by Zeake Johnson, former Sergeant-atArms of the House of Representatives, in memory of his wife Theodosia

McK. Johnson. She purchased the painting from Mrs. Elaine Hale Blair

of Washington, D.C., in 1959. Mrs. Blair’s father had purchased this

painting and an Adoration of the Madonna and Child from Brumidi,

who had brought them with him from Italy, according to memos to the

file written in 1959 and 1960, AOC/CO.

13. Alberta Campitelli and Barbara Steindl, “Costantino Brumidi da

Roma a Washington. Vicende e opere di un artista romano,” Ricerche di

Storia dell’arte: Pittori fra Rivoluzione e Restaurazione, n. 46 (1992),

pp. 49–59, and Maria Sofia Lilli, Aspetti dell’arte neoclassica: Sculture

nelle Chiese romane 1780–1846 (Rome: Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani, 1991).

14. Campitelli and Steindl, “Constantino Brumidi,” pp. 50–54.

The building’s neoclassical architecture provided a most

appropriate context for the classically based style of painting Brumidi had learned in Rome, and its masonry construction created natural fields for a fresco painter.

Notes to Chapter 3

1. The section “The Technique of True Fresco” was largely written by

Constance S. Silver. She, Christiana Cunningham-Adams, Bernard

Rabin, and Catherine S. Myers have each separately conducted scientific

analysis along with their conservation of Brumidi’s murals in the Capitol. The most comprehensive publication on mural techniques is Paolo

Mora, Laura Mora, and Paul Philippot, Conservation of Wall Paintings

(London: Butterworths, 1984).

2. Laurence Brumidi, “History of the Frieze in the Rotunda of the

U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.,” c. 1915, p.3, AOC/CO.

3. “Brumidi’s Life Work,” Washington Post, April 11, 1879, p.1.

4. Records of 1821, 1822, and 1823 prizes and 1823 student petition, Accademia di San Luca, Archivio.

5. CB, “Relative to his Employment at the Capitol,” November 30,

1874, AOC/CO.

6. To create lime, limestone (CaCO3) is dissociated by heat in kilns.

Carbon dioxide is released, producing quicklime (CaCO3 → CaO +

CO2). When water (H2O) is added to the powdered quicklime, a paste

of slaked lime, calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) is formed. The intonaco is

made of slaked lime mixed with sand in a ratio of 1:3. During drying,

33

BRUMIDI’S PAINTING TECHNIQUES

Fig. 3–17. Example of trompe l’oeil. Through his understanding of light and shade, Brumidi created the illusion of carved

molding, a framed oil painting, and figures and objects on a

ledge. In actuality only the gilded molding over the curved door is

three dimensional. S–216.