Four days after the artist’s death a bill was introduced into the Senate
of the United States which read as follows:
“Be it enacted.... That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is
hereby, directed to pay to the heirs of Constantino Brumidi, deceased,
the sum of $500, that being the amount reserved from the last voucher
paid him for painting in fresco the picture on the canopy of the Dome of
the Capitol; and also to pay to said heirs the sum of $200 to defray the
funeral expenses of said deceased; said payments to be made out of
moneys appropriated by an act approved March 3, 1879.”
Upon introducing this bill, Senator Voorhees of Indiana made the
following explanation:
“Mr. President, the reason for the introduction of this bill grows out
of the following facts: The Government made a contract with Mr. Brumidi
for the painting, in fresco, on the canopy of the Dome of the Capitol.
The scaffolding necessary to enable the artist to do his work was
furnished by the Government. When the painting was finished and the
scaffolding removed the Secretary of the Interior withheld the sum of
$500 of the contract price as a guarantee for any retouching which the
work might need after it dried out and became thoroughly seasoned to the
air. This amount was held back, to be paid to Mr. Brumidi for such
future attention on his part as the painting might be found to require.
“He was at all times in readiness to comply with the wishes of the
Government on this subject. No scaffolding, however, was ever replaced
on which to work in the Canopy of the Dome, nor was he ever called on by
the officials having this matter in charge to give his painting there
any further attention.... Both branches of Congress made the following
provision in the sundry civil act for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1880:
“‘To pay C. Brumidi for retouching and blending the picture in fresco on
the Canopy of the Dome of the Capitol and for constructing a scaffolding
under said picture, $700.’
“The money thus appropriated has been available nearly a year, yet no
steps were taken by the proper authorities to enable Mr. Brumidi to
ascend again into the Canopy of the Dome of this Capitol, and none now
ever will be. In the exact and legal fulfillment of a contract it is our
duty to pay this sum of $500 to his heirs. On this point I conceive
there can be no difference of opinion. I have ventured, however, in the
bill just introduced to ask Congress to apply the remaining $200 of the
appropriation of March 3, 1879, to the payment of the funeral expenses
of the great artist who has just passed away.”
Senator Morrill of Vermont followed Senator Voorhees on the Floor of the
Senate on that 24th day of February back in 1880 to add his sanction to
the bill introduced. Said Senator Morrill:
“Mr. President, I desire to express my hearty approval of the measure
proposed by the Senator from Indiana. It is only justice--and that
coldly measured--that we should now pay all we ever promised to one who
can make no further demands upon us, but whose works will live to remind
us of his twenty-five years of most valuable service in a branch of art
where he stood on this continent confessedly foremost, whether among
foreign or native artists. He leaves a daughter in Italy dependent upon
a regular remittance from her father, and he leaves an adopted son
beginning to be taught in the line of his father’s vocation, but not so
far advanced as to give support. I hope it will be the pleasure of the
Senate unanimously to pass the bill whenever it comes up for action.”
Senator Morrill who made the above speech in the Senate of the United
States is the same Senator Morrill to whom Brumidi referred in the
following letter written to Mr. Clark, Architect of the Capitol, and
dated November 30, 1874:
“The Thanksgiving day I received the kind visit of Senator Morrill
at the Providence Hospital. On that occasion I gave him a paper
containing the information of the time I was working in the Capitol
by daily wages and also retained at work by Senator Foot, Chairman
of the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds in the time
of the war.
“The annexed paper is the copy of that I presented to Senator
Morrill. I would have submitted it for your examination but in the
many times I have been in your office I had not the chance to find
you, nor in your house some afternoon.
“Mr. Morrill told me, that I would have work at the Capitol after
the recess of the Congress, but about my proposition, he cannot
tell me anything at present, but will take this matter in
consideration and he asked me what will be my demand about the
wages. I replied that before the war I had ten dollars in gold,
that was a sufficient wage at the time but now all the wages are
generally increased, I hope to obtain the same consideration.”