Enshrined in the domed Rotunda of the United States Capitol, as in the
Roman Pantheon from which it is descended, are the noblest hopes of a
mighty Nation. Yet less fearful of incurring the wrath of an
unpropitiated power than the ancients who raised a statue in their
sacred temple to “The Unknown God,” the American people have neglected
and all but forgotten patriotic mural painting. Long overdue also is
grateful tribute to its one-time protagonist, Constantino Brumidi. The
story of Brumidi’s life in this country and his labors to express
allegorically its principles of government and record visually the
events and personalities which achieved its establishment should be
instructive reading for many and particularly for those concerned with
the direction of American painting. By it they may be led to the
realization of a vital force that should be an important factor in
national life, an unknown power needed now in support of the heritage we
are called upon to defend.
The early settler in North America had little opportunity for monumental
painting. The austerity of religious belief dominating many new world
settlements, infused as they were with the spirit of the Reformation,
afforded meager encouragement to its development. American artists,
following Benjamin West to England, leaned heavily upon British custom
and precedent. West’s pupils--Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart and
Joseph Wright--became makers of likenesses, and liberty-loving John
Trumbull pursued historical painting to produce four of the eight great
framed pictures of the Rotunda of the Capitol. Contrasted with Brumidi’s
paintings, these mark the difference between the easel picture, a
loosely related, detachable embellishment, and mural decoration designed
in scale and color especially to enhance architecture.
The easel picture, the favored form of painting in the United States, is
a symbol not only of the American artist’s independence of expression
and freedom of enterprise but also of his dependence upon his own
resources and private patronage. Easily transported, it is adaptable for
exhibit in distant galleries, for sale to successive owners, and is more
easily reproduced. In the 19th century it was largely the means of
living for the professional fine artist. George Catlin found admission
charges to his exhibits remunerative. Others turned to engravings of
their subjects for profit. In the 20th century the framed picture has
become the delight of the amateur. American enjoyment of freedom of
thought and action is lived in the solitude of private studios. Yet too
rarely do these common privileges and fortunate blessings become the
subject matter of the canvases. These canvases exist solely for the
enjoyment of the individual.
Mural painting, however, in comparison to easel picture painting, is
made for the edification of large numbers of people and demands the
formal presentation of themes affecting all. The work of Brumidi, though
in a foreign style long past the crest of its vigor in service to the
Church, was found more suited to the requirements of monumental
architecture than that of native painters of the middle of the 19th
century.
The monumental mural is usually better if executed in fresco, the medium
which Brumidi used. This process of painting directly on the wall is
called “fresco secco” if the wall is allowed to harden and become almost
dry and the pigment bound to it by means of a glue size, casein or egg
yolk. This is much inferior to the true or “buono fresco” employed by
Brumidi in the dome which is painting on freshly laid plaster with
pigment suspended in pure water. Because the mortar sets in six or eight
hours the painting must be done in sections no larger than can be
completed at one time. In true fresco a finished study is generally
required. Frequently this assumes the form of a full-size detailed
drawing known as a cartoon. The outline of this is transferred to the
damp plaster wall by pouncing dry color through a perforated tracing or
“pattern,” or the cartoon on very light tough paper may be held against
the surface and contours pressed into the damp wall with a stylus.
Figures are modeled within the drawn lines. Terre verte is employed in
underpainting flesh, the rosier tones being superimposed later.
Accessories are painted in washes of varying depths and appropriate
colors further deepened or lightened until the desired three-dimensional
effect is gained. In the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo used color glazes
with such economy that the panels and single figures of his great
ceiling decorations truly appear as water color paintings. Brumidi
depended upon a heavier use of pigment and built up his lights opaquely.
If the day’s allotted portion is not satisfactorily finished while the
wall is still absorbent, it must be removed and worked again. As the
moisture leaves, the mortar sets and the wall hardens, its colors
becoming lighter and more sparkling as the white lime and crystalline
sand shine through. Carbon dioxide, ever present in the air, gradually
combines with calcium hydroxide of the lime plaster resulting in a
carbonate not unlike marble itself and very durable. Thus, the
decoration is truly a part of the architecture and, being inseparable
from it, is far more satisfactory than canvases from the most able
painters to be attached to wall or ceiling.
In the face of the current challenge to the American way of life our
painters should be given space in our Federal and State buildings for
decorations reaffirming the faith that made our Nation great. More
artists at present should be engaged in depicting the virtues of our
system of government in the interest of the development of appreciative
citizenship upon which it so justly depends.
Today, due to the rapidly declining private fortunes of the
industrialist-connoisseur class, the artist is facing a vacuity in art
patronage. Establish in its place a small but steadily sustained federal
program of mural painting, and a revival is possible here in the United
States not unlike that experienced in England when the social satire of
Hogarth’s brush was followed under royal patronage by one of the most
productive and prosperous periods of British painting.
This penetrating study of the life and works of Constantino Brumidi by
Dr. Murdock should arouse in public-spirited readers a desire to honor
the fresco artist for his accomplishment, an understanding of which is
of fundamental importance in a movement to further a strong national
program of mural art of an inspiring type. It is appropriate that this
history be addressed to laymen by one alert to the problems of the hour
and sensitive to the need of general public awareness of the power of
painting.