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Constantino Brumidi Image from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Removal of Brumidi Fresco from House Chamber, 1972. Image Courtesy of Architect of the Capitol

About the fresco

Created in 1857, the painting has had an eventful life of its own. During its first century and a half, it has been praised, ridiculed, installed, disassembled and reinstalled. It was painted by Constantino Brumidi, and was originally located in the House Chamber.  Brumidi’s frescos (paintings made on wet plaster) are now considered distinguishing features of the Capitol Building, but the Italian-born artist and this work in particular were not always so well received.

Brumidi immigrated to the U.S. in 1852. He began work on the Capitol in 1855, continuing until his death in 1880.  The artist became a U.S. citizen on November 12, 1857, just weeks before the completion of the Cornwallis fresco.  Although he rarely signed his works within the Capitol, the artist declared his new citizenship status on the strap of the bag in the lower right corner of the painting, which he signed as “C. Brumidi Artist Citizen of the U.S.”

The Politics of Art
This unusual signature may be simply an expression of the artist’s pride in his new citizenship. However, considering anti-immigrant feelings in the U.S. at the time, Brumidi’s signature may have held a deeper meaning.  

During the 1850s, the Nativist American Party, also known as the Know-Nothing Party, had gained substantial popularity. At the time of the 1857 Capitol renovation, the party had 51 members serving in the House. The balance of the Congress was composed of 83 Democrats and 100 Opposition party representatives. The Know-Nothing Party's goals were to elect native-born Protestants, an idea that appealed to voters upset by the recent influx of Irish, Italian and German immigrants. 

This simmering political climate was set to a boil by American artists who were disappointed that an Italian artist held a monopoly on adorning the walls of the Capitol. Others disapproved of the colorful, lavish style of Brumidi’s frescos, deeming it inappropriate for a building with as serious a function as the U.S. Capitol. Harper’s Weekly reported: “Some critics have caviled at the profuse and gaudy decorations of the new Hall…. The general effect…is dazzling and meretricious; one is reminded of a fashionable saloon in a gay capital, rather than the place of meeting of national legislators.”

An anonymous letter addressed to Montgomery C. Meigs, the Superintendent of the Capitol extension and manager for the House Chamber project, informed him not only that a group was organizing to remove him from office, but that the fresco was “…universally condemned. The subject is considered inappropriate and the execution execrable, in view of which I suggest to you to have the painting wiped out.”  While the fresco was admittedly not Brumidi’s finest work, Meigs did not bow to pressure to have it removed.

A New Home
The fresco remained within the House chamber, but objections to it did not cease with the Know-Nothings in the mid-1800s.  During the 1947 renovation of the House chamber, a wood panel wall was built to cover the Brumidi fresco. In 1972, funds were appropriated for the delicate task of removing the fresco and relocating it to a more hospitable space.”

The removal project was conducted by Henry G. Courtais, a French-born muralist, then working in New York. The goal was to carefully separate the one-inch layer of century-old plaster upon which the fresco was painted from the brick wall behind it, risking as little damage as possible. Cortais determined that the best way to accomplish this was to remove the double brick wall, one brick at a time, but only after the plaster itself was impregnated with casein (a milk protein used in the manufacture of adhesives) to prevent the plaster from crumbling.

Once successfully detached, the plaster slab was reinforced with an aluminum border, wire mesh and sculptor’s burlap. It was lowered by crane one floor outside the building, down the steps of the Capitol, and re-installed in the Members’ Dining Room, where it can be seen today. This new location was chosen at the request of several Congressmen, who felt that the fresco deserved more exposure.  It is now a much-admired feature of the Members’ Dining room, contributing to the distinction and historical meaning of the restaurant.

REFERENCES

• Barbara A. Wolanin.  Constantino Brumidi: Artist of the Capitol. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1998: pp 91-94.

• “The Capitol Extension and New House of Congress”, Harper’s Weekly, February 6 1858: p 90.

• Letter from “Officious” to Montgomery C. Meigs, 1857.