238

Vatican Palace, under the supervision of Camuccini and Filippo Agricola.

Paints frescoes in the neogothic family chapel

designed by G.B. Caretti on the third floor

of the Palazzo Torlonia, Piazza Venezia. Also

paints Roman stories in the galleries on the

second floor.

1841 Construction of the theater of the Villa Torlonia begins.

1842 January 19. Birth of his son, Giuseppe Antonio Raffaello Brumidi.

March. Work on the Third Loggia completed.

September. Commissioned to decorate a new

building, presumably the theater, in the Villa

Torlonia, Via Nomentana.

1844/1845 Signs and dates two scenes in the theater of

the Villa Torlonia. Was probably in charge of

all of the extensive mural decoration.

1846 Pope Pius IX takes office and introduces democratic reforms. 

Proposes a new avenue from the Quirinale,

the pope’s palace, to the Vatican, with a

monumental bridge and a triumphal arch in

honor of Pope Pius IX. At an unknown date,

works in the Quirinale.

1847 March. Creates a lithograph honoring the

pope.

July 5. Civic guard of citizens aged twenty-one

to sixty authorized by the pope.

Serves as a captain in the civic guard.

December. Petitions the pope to be named

assistant to Agricola, the inspector of public

paintings in Rome. Request denied because

the position did not exist.

Paints portrait of Pope Pius IX, of which he

makes a number of copies. 

1805 July 26. Born in Rome, Italy, the only surviving child of Stauro Brumidi of Greece and

Anna Maria Bianchini of Rome, owners of a

coffee shop at number 26, Via Tor de’ Conti.

c. 1818 Begins a fourteen-year study of art at Accademia di San Luca (Academy of St. Luke),

headed by Antonio Canova. Studies sculpture with Bertel Thorwaldsen and painting

with Vincenzo Camuccini. 

1821–1823 Wins prizes at the academy, including a fifth

prize for his copy of a sculpture of Apollo, a

second prize for his copy of a painting of a

cupid by Gaspare Landi (former teacher at

the academy), and a commendation for his

copy of a painting by Landi. Signs a student

petition to have life models.

1829 April 25. Death of his father. 

1832 June 30. Marries Maria Covaluzzi, a widow,

age 35.

August 15. Birth of his daughter, Maria

Elena Brumidi (known as Elena).

1836 Begins work for the Torlonia family. For

Alessandro Torlonia in the Palazzo Torlonia,

Piazza Venezia, he paints a frieze with the

glory of Constantine and the family coat of

arms in the throne room. For Marino Torlonia, decorates a neogothic chapel in the park

of the Villa de Porta Pia at an unknown date.

1837 August. Death of his mother.

Commissioned to create a sculpture for the

Weld-Clifford Chapel in church of San Marcello al Corso; chapel dedicated in 1842.

1838 June. Death of his wife.

October 17. Marries Anna Rovelli, age 16.

1840 With Domenico Tojetti, restores the

eleventh bay and the end wall dedicated to

Pope Gregory XVI in the third Loggia of the

Chronology of 

Constantino Brumidi’s Life and Work

(COMPILED WITH JULIE A. ARONSON)

Note: Events in italics are provided for context
239

1848–1850 Paints fifteen oil portrait studies of early

popes as models for the frieze of St. Paul’s

Outside the Walls (executed in mosaic between 1851 and 1872).

1848 May 11. Requests appointment to the position of assistant superintendent of sacred

apostolic palaces; request supported by the

pope but not granted.

September. Tries to resign from the civic

guard.

November 15. Pope flees Rome after assassination of prime minister Pellegrino Rossi.

1849 February 9. Declaration of the Roman Republic, followed by the election of a triumvirate.

April 12. French troops land at Civitavecchia,

preparing to attack Rome.

May 3. As a captain of the civic guard, removes articles for safekeeping when ordered

to seize the Monastery of S. Francesca Romana and others to house troops.

June 4. French troops enter Rome.

July 17. Applies to the Roman Republic for

a position.

1850 April 12. Pope restored to power by French

troops. Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli named

Secretary of State.

Paints frescoes in the Church of the

Madonna dell’ Archetto (dedicated May 31,

1851).

Has a studio in the parish of S. Maria de’

Monti.

In contact with John Hughes, archbishop of

New York, and American priest John Norris

about decoration of St. Stephen’s Church.

1851 February 4. Arrested and imprisoned in

connection with revolutionary activities. 

February 22. Pleads innocent to accusations

of stealing church property. 

June 4. Asks to leave for the United States

to decorate churches as planned before arrest. Is moved to a harsher prison and suffers

ill health.

June 11. Thomas U. Walter appointed Architect of the Capitol. Edward Clark comes to

Washington, D.C., to be his assistant.

July 4. Cornerstone for the Capitol Extension laid.

October/November. Requests permission

from the Secretary of State and the French

general to leave for the United States.

December. Trial on charges stemming from

revolutionary activities. Found guilty in spite

of supporting testimony.

1852 January 2. Sentenced to eighteen years in

prison.

Januar y 31. Sentence reduced by twothirds.

March 21. Released from prison after pardon by the pope.

September 18. Arrives in New York City.

November 29. Files document of intent to

become a United States citizen in Court of

Common Pleas, New York City.

Signs and dates portrait of Emery Bemis of

Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1853 March 23. President Franklin Pierce transfers

jurisdiction over the Capitol from the Department of the Interior to the Department of War,

headed by Jefferson Davis.

March 29. Montgomery C. Meigs appointed

Supervising Engineer of the Capitol Extension.

Signs and dates portrait of Eveline F. Freeman of Massachusetts and tondo Progress for

the Bennitt family of New York. 

1854 May 5. In Mexico City, painting a Holy

Trinity for the Cathedral.

November. Meigs tries to persuade Emmerich

Carstens to come from New York to be foreman

of decorative painters.

December 12. Leaves Mexico for New Orleans in the company of “Mary Brumidi” and

bronze worker Federico Casali.

December 28. At the Capitol in Washington, D.C., is introduced to Meigs, who suggests he paint a sample fresco in a lunette in

his office, intended for the House Committee on Agriculture (H–144).

1855 January. Living at 308 Delaware Avenue

[N.E.], between B and C streets, near the

Capitol.

January 29. Exhibits paintings in Mexico

City.

February 3. Congress appropriates $100,000

for a new dome for the Capitol.

CHRONOLOGY OF CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI’S LIFE AND WORK
to design the House Chamber ceiling and

Senate desks and chairs.

March 7. Newly inaugurated President James

Buchanan appoints John B. Floyd Secretary of

War.

March 27. Requested by Meigs to design

railings for the private staircases.

April 3. Pay raised to $10.00 per day.

July. Death of his friend Frederick Casali,

head of the Capitol bronze foundry.

October-December. Paints Cornwallis Sues

for Cessation of Hostilities in House Chamber

and signs it: “C Brumidi Artist Citizen of the

U.S.”

November 12. Files final naturalization papers in U.S. Circuit Court, District of Columbia.

December 16. House of Representatives meets

in new hall.

1858 Living at 63 Indiana Avenue [N.W.].

Completes one lunette and one corner group

in Senate Post Office (S–211) and two of five

lunettes in room of Senate Committee on

Military Affairs (S–128). 

Decorative painting ongoing in first-floor

Senate corridors.

March 20. Memorial to Congress requesting

the foundation of an art commission is drafted

and signed by 127 artists at National Art Association convention.

April. Conflict with Johannes Oertel over

the painting of the Senate Library (S–211).

April 30. Appropriations for Capitol construction expired and workers discharged.

May 19. Proposed amendment to the Capitol

appropriation specifies that a committee of

three artists appointed by the president recommend designs for approval by the Joint Committee on the Library.

May 28. Jefferson Davis defends Meigs and

Brumidi’s decoration during debate in Senate.

May 31. Memorial of artists presented to the

House, which forms a select committee of five

members to consider it.

June 12. Civil Appropriation Bill passed, with

a provision that no expenditures for sculpture

or paintings could be made without the approval of the committee of three artists and the

Joint Committee on the Library, with the exFebruary 19. Having prepared an oil sketch

and cartoon, begins to paint the fresco of

Cincinnatus (H–144).

Completes a color sketch for Martyrdom of

St. Stephen for St. Stephen’s Church in New

York City.

March 17. Finishes Cincinnatus fresco.

March 20. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis

inspects the fresco and authorizes Meigs to

employ Brumidi at $8.00 per day to continue work and to pay him retroactively.

March 30. Has finished sketch representing

the Four Seasons and begins working on

cartoons.

November 9. Has completed the ceiling and

all but the Putnam lunette (H–144).

December. American Party (Know Nothings)

at its height in the 34th Congress. 

Submits proposal in French listing subjects

for the Senate Reception Room.

1856 April 1. Has completed frescoes in Agriculture Committee Room (H–144). 

July 28. Submits three sketches for paintings

in the Senate Reception Room (S–213). 

August 6. Meigs approves design for the

Ladies Waiting Room (S–313A) [not executed].

August 20. Meigs approves the sketch for

the room of the Committee on Naval Affairs

(S–127).

October. First article criticizing use of foreign

artists at the Capitol appears in The Crayon.

By November. Work in the Naval Affairs

Committee Room (S–127) in progress.

November. Washington Ar t Association

founded by Horatio Stone.

December 4. Installs oil-on-canvas altarpiece

in St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore.

December. Exhibits Holy Trinity in Mexico

City.

Signs and dates Martyrdom of St. Stephen for

St. Stephen’s Church, New York City.

1857 Dispute begins between Walter and Meigs over

the superintendency of the architecture and the

decoration in the Capitol.

February 16. Submits designs for the proposed Senate Library (S–211); is requested

240
241

CHRONOLOGY OF CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI’S LIFE AND WORK

ception of the work in progress by Crawford

and Rogers.

By November 15. Completes frescoes in the

spandrels of the southern domed section of

the Senate Reception Room (S–213).

December. Clashes with Emmerich Carstens,

foreman of decorative painters, over superintendence of workers.

1859 March 3. Signs sketch depicting scenes of

American history for a fresco in illusionistic

sculptural relief for the Rotunda frieze. 

“American Artists,” report of House select

committee, recommends formation of art commission.

March 17. Carstens dismissed by Secretary of

War.

May 15. Art Commission appointed by the

President; members are Henry Kirke Brown,

James R. Lambdin, and John F. Kennsett.

June 6. Pays for the burial of Clara Scarselli

Brumidi, age 36, born in Rome.

June 15. First meeting of the Art Commission.

October. Meigs reports that decorative

painting in the first-floor Senate corridor is

almost complete.

October 3. Altarpiece installed at St. Aloysius Church in Washington.

November 1. Meigs relieved of duty and replaced by William B. Franklin.

December 1. Work on the Capitol suspended

except for some painting in the corridors.

December 9. Date inscribed on Thomas

U. Walter’s drawing of section of new

dome, which includes a canopy for a fresco

by Brumidi.

1860 Listed in census as living at 485 D Street

North [N.E.] with eighteen-year-old English

woman, undoubtedly Lola Germon.

Signs and dates murals in the President’s

Room (S–216).

February 22. Art Commission submits a report highly critical of foreign treatment of the

Capitol decoration.

June 20. Art Commission abolished.

July 1. Work on the Capitol resumes.

1861 February 27. Meigs ordered by Secretary of

War to resume charge of the Capitol Extension.

March. Carstens sworn in as “Foreman of

Ornamental Painting.”

April 12. The Civil War begins. Troops stationed at the Capitol from April 18 through

May.

May 12. Birth of his son, Laurence Stauros

Brumidi.

May 15. Work on the Capitol extensions suspended, although ironwork on dome continued.

June 13. Meigs appointed Quartermaster

General of the Army.

August-December. Paid out of Senate Contingent Fund, along with the assistants, for

decorating Senate corridors and repairing

other decoration in Senate wing.

1862 Living at 128 Second Street West [N.W.].

April 16. Jurisdiction over Capitol shifted

from War Department to Interior Department under Caleb B. Smith.

April 30. Work on extensions resumed.

May. Signs and dates a proposal for an elevated railroad on Broadway in New York

City.

August 18. Walter requests a design for the

canopy fresco.

August 31. Capitol used as a hospital for

troops through October.

September 8. Submits a design with the description of the Apotheosis of Washington and

requests $50,000.

October. Estimates cost of completing

rooms in the Capitol. In Philadelphia at end

of the month.

December 17. Agrees to accept $40,000 for

the canopy fresco.

1863 January 3. Proposal for the canopy fresco

accepted for $40,000.

February-May. Decorating Walter’s new

house in Germantown, Pennsylvania, with

several assistants from the Capitol.

March 11. Notified to proceed with the cartoons for the canopy in real fresco.

March 30. Carpenters finish wooden model

of Rotunds canopy made to assist Brumidi in

preparing cartoons.

May 16. Draws figures of Vulcan and Ceres

for the clock designed by Walter for the Senate Chamber.
July. In Philadelphia through September.

November 19. Secretary of Interior seeks

congressional authorization for frieze. 

1867 January. In Havana, Cuba.

March 29. Has returned to Washington and

is working in the Capitol.

By November 1. Ceiling of Senate Post Office (S–211) completed.

1868 No work at the Capitol documented.

Signs and dates monumental crucifixion

mural and Assumption of the Virgin in St.

Stephen’s Church, New York City.

1869 Paints Liberty and Union in oil on canvas for

the entrance hall of the White House.

By November. Adds four frescoes to Senate

Reception Room (S–213). 

1870 Takes mortgage on house at 128 2nd Street,

N.W.; Lola Brumidi living at 326 A Street, S.E. 

June. In New York. Sends designs for

lunettes of the Senate Reception Room

(S–213). Says he will be in Washington in

July.

November 22. Paid for painting chiaroscuro

figures on south wall of Senate Reception

Room (S–213).

1871 April. In New York working at St. Stephen’s

Church. 

October 19. Paid for three frescoes of the

American Revolution to complete decoration

of Senate Military Affairs Committee Room

(S–128). 

Nov. 23. Paid for painting chiaroscuro figures in the three lunettes in the Senate Reception Room (S–213); spaces designated for

portraits remain vacant.

Visited by his daughter Elena, who lives in

Rome.

1872 August-September. In New York working at

St. Stephen’s Church.

1873 May 26. Paid for mural of Washington,

Hamilton, and Jefferson on south wall of

Senate Reception Room (S–213).

September. Working in dining room of Senator Justin Morrill’s house.

November 28. Paid for Robert Fulton

fresco in lunette in the Patent Corridor, first

floor of Senate wing.

May. Contract questioned by Secretary of

Interior I. P. Usher; Brumidi ordered to suspend operations.

July 7. Secretary of Interior agrees to resumption of work on the canopy fresco.

November 6. Completes cartoons for the

canopy for a payment of $10,000 total; pay

suspended until construction of the dome is

further advanced. 

1864 Decorates the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul

in Philadelphia with frescoes and murals.

November. Lola Brumidi purchases house at

128 Second Street West [N.W.], where they

live together until 1870.

December 3. Ironwork of the canopy complete and ready for fresco. 

Paints in fresco in the Sergeant-at-Arms Room

(S–212); central ceiling panel remains unfilled.

1865 May 16. Walter notes completion of the

center group of the canopy fresco and the

commencement of Science group.

May 26. Walter resigns, three days after being

placed under the Commissioner of Public

Buildings.

July 15. Appropriation for the dome exhausted, but Brumidi continues to work.

August. Sends painting The Five Senses to

Walter’s family.

August 30. Edward Clark appointed Architect of the Capitol Extension and New Dome.

September 3. Meigs asks that his portrait be

removed from the Commerce group in the

canopy fresco.

September. Painting last group on the canopy;

fresco is signed and dated 1865. Expresses

concern about the junctures between the sections of plaster. Clark recommends payment.

October. In Philadelphia.

1866 January 9. Scaffolding for canopy fresco dismantled during the following week.

June 9. Paid balance of the contract price,

subtracting $500, to be paid when joints between the giornate are toned and blended. 

July. Prepares estimates after Chairman of

the Senate Committee on Public Buildings

and Grounds requests that unfinished rooms

(S–211, 212, and 213) be completed. Edward Clark objects to higher prices.

242
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CHRONOLOGY OF CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI’S LIFE AND WORK

Signs and dates Crucifixion for Academy of

Mount Saint Vincent, Riverdale, New York.

1874 June 21. Paid for four monochrome profile

portrait medallions in Senate Committee on

Foreign Affairs Room (S–118).

August. Lives temporarily at Marini Hall

(914–916 E Street), where he works on cartoons. Has “rheumatic attack” in his knees,

affecting his ability to walk.

By November 1. Has completed fresco

Signing of the First Treaty of Peace with Great

Britain in corridor outside Committee on

Foreign Affairs Room (S–118).

Thanksgiving. Hospitalized, possibly for

rheumatism.

1875 May. Asked to make portraits for library of

Senator Justin S. Morrill’s house.

By November 1. Completes two frescoes in

Senate first-floor corridors: The Cession of

Louisiana outside the Committee on Territories Room (S–124), and Bellona outside the

Military Affairs Room (S–128). 

Also paints frescoes on ceiling of the Committee on the Library Room (S–129).

Paints lunettes of Columbus and the Indian

Maiden and Authority Consults the Written

Law in the west corridor.

1876 Signs and dates the ceiling fresco Columbia

Welcoming the South Back into the Union in

the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Room

(S–212). 

February. Painting the lunette Bartholomé

de Las Casas (S–133) in oil in the west corridor, first floor of Senate wing. Petitions to be

allowed to finish uncompleted rooms.

May. Completes lunette depicting John

Fitch in the Patent Corridor.

1877 March. Put back on the payroll at $10.00

per day to paint the Rotunda frieze.

May. Begins work on cartoons for the frieze.

1878 Living at 911 G Street, N.W.

April. Paints first scene of frieze.

August 24. Paid for frescoes of Justice

Joseph Story, Chancellor James Kent, and

Chancellor Robert Livingston in Senate wing

north entrance.

September. Scaffold for the frieze being adjusted. Begins the Pocahontas cartoon.

Plagued by health problems, possibly hospitalized.

Begins being hoisted up daily to frieze by a

cage on a pulley.

By October 15. Has completed cartoons for

the DeSoto segment of the frieze and is continuing work on Pocahontas cartoon.

December 27. Asks to suspend work on the

frieze during cold weather.

Paints The Apparition of our Lord to St. Margaret Mary for the Visitation Convent, Washington, D.C.

1879 Living at 911 G Street, N.W., with his son

Laurence. The former Lola Brumidi, now

Mrs. Walsh, purchases the house at 921 G

Street, N.W.

June 27. Files will, leaving all possessions to

his son Laurence.

July. Continues to work on cartoons for the

frieze, but due to asthma cannot ascend to

the scaffold.

Early August. In Orkney Springs, West Virginia, on doctor’s orders, works on frieze

cartoons.

October 1. Nearly falls from the scaffolding

while painting the frieze, but returns to paint

the next day.

November. Petitions to be placed back on

the payroll for cartoons. Works on cartoons

of Oglethorpe and Lexington. 

1880 January. Works 27 days on cartoons for the

frieze.

February 19. Dies in his home at 921 G St.,

N.W. Buried in Germon family plot at Glenwood Cemetery.

March. Filippo Costaggini asks to succeed

Brumidi on the frieze.

June. Congress divides the $500 due Brumidi

between his children Laurence and Elena.