12 Facts About Brumidi Corridors

Brumidi Corridors are the vaulted, ornately decorated corridors on the first floor of the Senate wing in the United States Capitol.

Brumidi Corridors was an Italian artist of Greek descent who was born in Rome in 1805, worked for three years in the Vatican under Pope Gregory XVI, and served several aristocrats as an artist for palaces and villas, including the prince Torlonia.

Brumidi Corridors were part of the new wing constructed under Architect of the Capitol Thomas U Walter between 1852 and 1859.

Brumidi Corridors added details in the 1860s and frescoed the lunettes over the doorways in the 1870s.

Brumidi Corridors created the portraits and historical or allegorical scenes in the semicircular lunettes over the doorways in the difficult true fresco technique.

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Along the walls, Brumidi Corridors painted monochrome profile portraits of famous early Americans set in medallions to resemble reliefs carved in stone.

Over S-124, which was then used by the Senate Committee on Territories, Brumidi Corridors painted The Cession of Louisiana, depicting the meeting of Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and the Francois Barbe-Marbois in 1803.

North entrance retains its original tempera ceiling painted by Emmerich Carstens in 1875; Brumidi painted the frescoed portraits of jurists Justice Joseph Story and Chancellor James Kent, and the imitation sculpture bust of Chancellor Robert R Livingston, in 1878.

At the east end of the north corridor, over S-118, then occupied by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Brumidi Corridors painted The Signing of the First Treaty of Peace with Great Britain.

Brumidi Corridors have always been a high-traffic area and, thus, vulnerable to damage; they were first repaired by Brumidi as early as 1861.

Brumidi Corridors's frescoes were painted over in oil paint when they became damaged or dark with grime.

Between 1985 and 1995, Brumidi Corridors's frescoes were cleaned and conserved by professional conservators, including Bernard Rabin, Constance Silver, Catherine Myers, and Christiana Cunningham-Adams, to reveal his original compositions.