Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/311502
Fig. 2A. The Brumidi family coffee shop was on the Via Tor de' Conti, around the corner from the church and overlooking the Forum of Augustus. PH OTO GR A PH BY AU T H O R Fig. 2B. Brumidi's Family Record in his Bible. A RC HI T EC T O F T HE C A PI TO L Costantino apparently showed early talent in art. At the age of 13, around 1818, he began his studies at the Accademia di San Luca (Academy of St. Luke), then located near the Piazza Venezia. ere, along with his art training, he would have learned Greek and Roman his- tory and mythology and Christian iconography. Students learned by copying the work of acknowledged masters, including their teachers. e Accademia provided a thor- ough foundation for creating art in the neoclassical style. It was for a short time headed by the most prominent neo- classical sculptor of the time, Antonio Canova, who was esteemed throughout Europe for his idealized nudes and reliefs. Brumidi also would have been familiar with the work of the Danish sculptor Bertel orvaldsen, a member of the Accademia and a leader in the neoclassical revival in Rome. Brumidi himself made sculpture, and in 1821, at age sixteen, he won a fifth prize for his copy of Apollo in the sculpture class. 4 e famous sculptors set the norm that Brumidi would follow for depicting the human fig- ure moving in space and designing pleasing and balanced compositions. He became adept at applying his teachers' principles of composing painted or relief scenes with fig- ures arranged in a shallow space, which he would later apply in his work at the Capitol. In addition, the young artist also developed great skill in creating the illusion of sculpture on a flat wall during his years of study and draw- ing from classical sculpture at the academy. Brumidi would later call himself "pittore e scultore," both a painter and a sculptor. 5 He is known to have com- pleted two sculpture projects in Europe. In 1837, he was commissioned to create the sculpture for a magnificent underground chapel in San Marcello al Corso to serve as the tomb of the recently deceased omas Weld, an English cardinal who died in Rome. 6 Brumidi created four reliefs depicting major events in the life of Christ, with candela- bra with angels on the altar, all in white marble (fig. 4A). e semicircular format of the reliefs provided experience for the frescoes he designed for lunettes in the Capitol (fig. 4B). It is not known whether he did the clay modeling or stone carving for the chapel himself, but, considering Fig. 3A. Bertel Thorvaldsen, Nessus Abduc ng Deianira, 1814. T HE ME T RO P O L I TA N MUSEUM O F A RT, EURO PE A N S C UL P T URE A ND D EC O R AT I V E A RT S FUND, 2004 Fig. 3B. Classical figure on an imaginary sea horse painted by Brumidi for the Naval Affairs Commi ee, S-127, in the U.S. Capitol. A RC HI T EC T O F T HE C A PI TO L Figs. 3A-3B. Brumidi learned to paint graceful mythological figures inspired by the works of his teachers and preeminent neoclassical sculptors such as Thorvaldsen. As a mature ar st, he included them in his murals for the Capitol. 3 THE CAPITOL DOME SPRING 2014