The Portland daily press., 1880-03-06
The Paintings and the Painter OF
the Capitol Rotunda.

the Capitol ROtunda.
Mrs. Clemmer writes from Washington to
the Independent: On entering the Rotunda
and looking up, ones face seems drawn to-
ward great swirl of high, impending clouds,
out of which peer many ruddy goddesses and
gods, who, on continued though straining in
spection, bear a striking likeness to Franklin
and other familiar heroes. This central paint
ing of the dome, the heart of hearts of the cap
itol, has been variously criticised. No one can
say it is not effective and not original. Here
Brumidi's work is a combination of mythology
and history, of allegory and fact combined.
Above all, Brumidi tried to make it american.
The god Mercury, who on this high fresco of
the dome stands for commerce, bears the face
of Robert Morris. Grand Mineva, who should
always be woman of the most regnant type,
alas! here wears the face of Benjamin Frank
lin, which, we'll for him, is not we'll for her.
Here Brumidi metamorphosed the gods; but
made an effective picture, though to certain
minds some Of its details seem ridiculous in
their transforma ton. The coloripg of this
fresco is criticised by those who do not know
that only nine colors could be used on this
plastering, the lime in it being fatal to all 9TH
ers. The scaffold on which Brumidi painted
this picture was drawn to this immense height
from the floor, and here in the air, lying ON his
back, he painted it. The perspective, in itself
wonderful, seeming to open a vista to the
heavens, becomes marvellous when one recalls
the position in which it was painted. Two
years ago the gray blank of the plaster band
binding the upper dome seemed suddenly to
grow alert with living figures. The designs for
this historical belt Brumidi drew as early as
1850, and waited till 1878 for the appropriation
from Congress which enabled him to begin it.
The devastations of war drew the minds of
men further and further from the demands of
historic art. After its close. if the years crude
Congresses spent in political battles had al
lowed Brumidl to begin his last great work, he
would not last week have gone down to his
death leaving it unfinished 1t was the last
dear dream of his life to finish it, But the
tired old hands at length dropped from the
half-done task-the task that finished, would
be great legacy to great nation left unfn-
ished because the men who represented it had
been crudely, selfshly careless, if no more. 1t
would take two more years to lead this pro-
cession or history around the dome, and to the
very last Brumidi hoped to rally sufficiently
to go back to finish the encircling frieze But
as his physical intirmities increased, in his own
room, at home, he set to work to enlarge the
cartoons from which the final picture was to
be painted, to working size. so that the one
who followed him would have nothing to do
but follow his copy. Thus the day before his
death he was at work on a cartoon of the Bat
tie of Lexington. This historic girdle is to
hold within it all the great events of American
history from the landing of Columbus to the
landing of the California Argonauts in 1S49.
1t was Brumidi's belief "that the discovery of
the Pacific empire completed a cycle of nation
al history" Thus he begins with the discovery
of the country by Columbus. He gives us
MonteZ una in front of the great Mexican dial,
Pizarro drawing dead-line through the sand,
De Soto, Pocahontas, the landing of the Pill
grims, William Penn. Here his brush was
laid down. Here the little scaffold clinging to
the higher wall of The dome gave him up for
ever, and thes wooden basket, which so long
had borne him aloft, bore him downward for
the last time.
The cartoons of Brumidi which are to be put
on the frieze of the dome by another hand are
Oglethorpe and the Indians, The Battle of
Lexington, Surrender of Corvallis, Decatur
at Tripoli, The Death of Tecumseh The En-
trance of Scott into the City of Mexico, an d
The Discovery of Gold.
For nearly two years the absorbing centre of
interest to visitors in the rotunda has been the
human hgure, dim In high air, at work on a
little scaffold clinging to the upper wall. The
descent of Brumidi in the wooden basket, at
three o'clock each afternoon, was the event of
the day. He was an old man, wearing a thick
name of gray hair and patriarchal beard.
The width of his head seemed to lessen its
height; yet it was high and his perceptive fac
ulties the largest. His full, great eyes were
set very wide apart, each side of cogltative
nose. His mouth, revealed by an open NOUS
tache, was firm and refined. He wore mill
tary coat, and to strangers wore the air of reti-
cence which well BELTS the aristocracy of ge-
MUS. But his also was that impulse of quick
response which belongs equally to genius when
it meets its own. He was cordial, charming
enthusiastic to all with whom he was in SYM
paJhy He was cultivated in literature, could
talk of Shakespeare, Dante, the old italian and
classic poets, and of historical art by the hour
He had enthusiasm for many Americans
From hundred places within the capitol the
faces OF American statesmen looked down up
on ,posterity, painted by Brumidi. He had fin
ished portrait of Jefferson and was painting
the portrait of Henry Clay at the time of his
death.
Yale, Brumidi! Another will take up thy
brush and go on with thy great work; but he
will not be Brumidi. 1t is we'll that thy fire,
that was Greek, thy touch, that was Roman,
should glow from base to dome on this temple
of our liberties; but better still that the soul,
which was American, should inspire thy brush
and give us, nearer and dearer to our hearts
than the gods of the past, the heroes of our
own race and time.