Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/311502
22 by standing figures representing Justice and Judgment— is based on Venetian Renaissance prototypes, 17 such as Giovanni Bellini's San Giobbe Altarpiece, c. 1490. Bellini's altarpiece, a type known as a "sacred conversation," brought together the Madonna and Christ child and various saints to discuss aspects of Christian dogma. Brumidi's use of this particular format as a source for Authority reveals the ethical underpinnings of America's adherence to the rule of law. Two final examples from the decorations for the Capitol that reflect Brumidi's melding of traditional allegory and modern technology are Telegraph (fig. 9) and Physics (fig. 10), two ceiling frescoes completed in 1867 for room S-211. e choice of the subject for Telegraph was probably related to the function of room S-211 as the Senate Post Office. 18 e fresco shows Europa, astride a bull and posed in a manner that recalls Titian's famous Rape of Europa, c. 1575–80, shaking hands with America, while a cherub holds the transatlantic cable laid between the two conti- nents in 1866. American visualizations of progress and manifest destiny as omas Crawford's Progress of Civilization, 1853–63, for the Senate pediment of the Capitol, and George In- ness's 1855 Lackawanna Valley at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Brumidi's Authority Consults the Written Law (fig. 8), c. 1875, is one of the frescoed lunettes, like his Robert Fulton, for the Brumidi Corridors, but it depicts judicial rather than material progress. Painted to fill the space over the door to room S-131, used by the Senate Committee on the Revision of Laws, the fresco's composition-a female Authority seated before a niche and flanked on either side Fig. 7. Constan no Brumidi, Progress, 1853. Oil on canvas, Architect of the Capitol, donated through the United States Capitol Historical Society by Howard and Sara Pra , 1994. Fig. 8. Constan no Brumidi, Authority Consults the Wri en Law, c. 1875. Fresco, over the door to Senate Room 131, United States Capitol. Fig. 9. Constan no Brumidi, Telegraph, 1867. Fresco, ceiling of Senate Room 211, the Lyndon B. Johnson Room (originally Senate Post Office), United States Capitol. Fig. 10. Constan no Brumidi, Physics, 1867. Fresco, ceiling of Senate Room 211, the Lyndon B. Johnson Room (originally Senate Post Office), United States Capitol. ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL THE CAPITOL DOME SPRING 2014 ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL