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Portrait of Constantino Brumidi
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Constantino Brumidi (July 26, 1805 in Rome, Italy-February 19, 1880, Washington, DC). Brumidi was an Italian-American artist who painted the most important frescoes in the United States Capitol. Born in Italy, he was one of the leading artists of Rome and nearly 50 years old when he moved to the United States in 1852. Thomas U. Walter, the architect of the U.S. Capitol, and Montgomery Meigs, the engineer charged with constructing the Capitol*s dome and extensions, both recognized Brumidi as the best living fresco artist and selected him to decorate the building*s interior. Brumidi*s classical training, his study of history, and his devotion to his new homeland combined to create such works as The Apotheosis of Washington in the Rotunda...Creator: Mathew Brady..Ca. 1870
In 1944 the D.C. Public Library purchased over 1800 lanternslides and glass plate negatives from E.B. Thompson for $1,000. Mr. Thompson was a photographer who in 1904 opened a store that sold “steropticon supplies, cameras, lantern slides,” and other photographic equipment at 1343 F St., NW. His camera shop moved numerous times in forty years, ending up finally at 1744 Columbia Road, N.W. In 1944, his business letterhead advertised his store as selling “Sound and Silent Motion Pictures and Slides”.He offered to sell his collection of images of Washington, DC to the DC Public Library as he prepared to retire from full time work after a long illness in 1944. Starting in 1946 the DC Public Library contracted with the Library of Congress to create 8x10 black and white prints on mounts from his collection of slides and negatives. The prints are now part of the Washington, DC Historical Image Collection in the Washingtoniana Division. The collection’s strengths are in its images of federal buildings, the Arlington National Cemetery, federal memorials, national parades, historic houses, and street scenes.
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