_Constantino Brumidi, Brady photograph_ Frontispiece _Mr. and Mrs. C. Brumidi, album photographs_ 77 _Brumidi’s Grave, Glenwood Cemetery_ 87 _Lola Germon’s Album_ 89 _Altar Mural, St. Aloysius Church_ 97 _The Capitol Dome_ 99 _Working Sketch for Dome Canopy_ 95 _Working Sketch for Three Graces_ 79 _Working Sketch for the Landing of the Pilgrims_ 111 Introduction 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.