Constantino Brumidi (Italian/American 1805-1880)

Constantino Brumidi (Italian/American, 1805-1880) Study for The Apotheosis of Washington in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol Building. Unsigned. Oil on canvas, dia. 35 1/4 in., in a molded giltwood frame. Condition: Relined, restretched, scattered retouch. . Provenance: Purchased at auction in 1919 for $300. Literature: Barbara Wolanin, Constantino Brumidi: Artist of the Capitol, (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1998). Note: In the late summer of 1852, artist Constantino Brumidi arrived in New York City from Italy, an expatriate artist of great skill and experience. Many of his fresco series in the classical style adorned public buildings, baroque-era residences, and churches throughout Rome, though it was to be his works in America that would define his career. Born in 1805, Brumidi began studying art at a young age, and continued his education under such 19th century luminaries (and classically trained artists) as Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorwaldsen. As early as 1840, scholar Barbara Wolanin tells us, Brumidi was doing public work at the Vatican, restoring 16th century frescoes in the Vatican's Third Loggia. Throughout the 1840s, Brumidi worked steadily, building his resume and receiving acclaim. Political winds in Italy shifted in the late 1840s, and a series of unfortunate events landed Brumidi in jail as a revolutionary. After some legal maneuverings, his sentence was commuted in March of 1852, and he left for the United States as a refug Read more…