Musée du Ben

Hello Art lovers!

This time we will be halting at Washington D.C and explore a spellbound artwork done by Constantino Brumidi. We might have heard about demigods. Mysterious people claim that they can turn themselves into God and attain the supreme position of nature. We are going to witness one such artwork which made a legend into God. It is called “Apotheosis of George Washington”. Drop the anchor and let’s dive deep into episode 2 of Artworks.

Introduction

    This Fresco is located 180 feet from the ground inside the dome of U. S Capitol building. It covers 4664 square feet created using water, paint and plaster. Brumidi did this work for over a period of 11 months during the end of civil war. Well, this is a very short time considering the details and creativity put for this painting.

Brumidi and the task

    Constantino Brumidi is a Greek Italian American historical painter. He is talented for his frescoes. Brumidi also loves to travel and he visited the capitol building at Washington D.C. He looked for blank white spaces like a hungry artist who looks for opportunity. When he gazed at the dome of capitol inside the building. He knew there is a chance of making history here.

Jefferson Davis, Secretary of war gave him this task. Brumidi also did few works in the capitol building ahead of doing this dome work. Jefferson raised his daily wage to 10 dollars when he started working on the dome. Brumidi died before completing all his tasks at Rotunda of Washington D.C. This man did artwork till his last breath. WOW

Who is George Washington?

    Many Indian students like myself pronounced his name as George “Washing machine” in our primary. We might find it as a joke until we look into this man’s history. He was the first president of the United States, an American political leader, military general statesman and the one of the founding father of America. He won the War of Independence with the help of American forces allied with France and defeated British at Yorktown. Let’s see more about his history in further blog posts, now let’s decode the artwork.

“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” 

― George Washington

Breaking down Art

    We’re now arriving at an important context of our blog, there are many visible details exist in this artwork. Let’s move one by one.

What is Apotheosis?

    Apotheosis is the term for the divinization of a normal human. We might have heard demi-god people claim they are God. It is similar to that. Here, an individual turns oneself into a godlike stature. Americans considered G.W as a saviour thus Brumidi decided to paint him a God.

Allegories of God

    You might have noticed a few distinct works over the perimeter. Washington is considered as Zeus surrounded by 2 goddesses and 13 maidens near him. These 13 maidens represent 13 colonies allied for war. Let’s look into each allegory,

War

    The war allegory is painted directly below G.W. Columbia (Roman goddess of freedom) is seen fighting for her liberty. She wears a cap, helmet, with a raised sword and the shield painted as U.S flag. This represents women contribution to the war and the beginning of their empowerment. She fights the Tyranny and King power who are the people lying before her frightened. The bald eagle to the left of Columbia carries arrows and thunderbolt which is also the national seal of U.S.A.

Science

    We have Minerva/Athena (Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom) who like a long spear and she points her hand towards electric generator coupled with battery next to a printing press. To the left of Minerva, you can see Benjamin Franklin, F.B Morse, Robert Fulton (the scientists who contributed more in the middle age).To the right of her, you can witness a teacher teaching his students how to use a divider, it could be a symbol for the strategy they used to defeat the English.

Marine

    This scene shows Neptune/Poseidon (Roman god of the sea). He gives us the look of Aquaman holding a trident, crown of seaweed and riding a shell chariot using sea horses. To the right of him, you see Venus (Goddess of love) popularly known as ‘Cupid’ seen helping in laying transatlantic telegraph cable which ran from America to Ireland. You might as well see an ironclad warship in the background with smokes coming out of the chimney.

Commerce

    Mercury/Hermes (Roman God of commerce) with wings and wearing sandals giving a bag of gold coins to American revolutionary war financier Robert Morris. In the left, you can see a box being moved with the help of dolly. It might contain valuable resources and to the right, you can see anchors and sailors moving towards the marine.

Mechanics

    Vulcan/Hephaestus (Roman God of fire and forge) standing at an anvil, next to a pile of cannonballs. The man forging represents Charles Thomas who is the supervisor for the construction of Dome in U.S Capitol building. You can as well see the steam engine in the background.

Agriculture

    Ceres/Demeter (Roman Goddess of agriculture) shown sitting on a wreath of wheat having a cornucopia which is the symbol of ‘plenty’. You can see Goddess flora picking up a flower and a young man with a liberty cap holding the horses. The rainbow which emerged from the science allegory ends at agriculture, which depicts the influence of science in the field of agriculture.

Metamorphosis of Artwork

    Brumidi is not an ordinary artist who works for commission. He wanted his artwork to be etched in history. So, he made the artwork from 2D to 3D rendering vignette. He lowered down George Washington which was at dead centre initially to make the art give a depth effect. He also altered the direction of angel’s face which now looks directly at you wherever you stood in Rotunda of Capitol.

Dark secrets

    The two chimneys’ behind Marine artwork is widely rumoured to foreshadow twin tower’s 9/11 tragedy.72 stars surrounding the perimeter of artwork represents the number of Gods in Judaism. You can see the angels holding ‘E Pluribus Unum’ which means ’out of many one’ also the official motto of U.S. George Washington sculpture inside the Capitol building resembles Satan’s posture. The Freemason community includes G.W, Benjamin Franklin who constructed the building also believed to perform Satanic worship.

Conclusion

    The Apotheosis of Washington altogether shows the Roman republic as a precursor to American democracy. G.W presiding over the values in the mid-century defined the hopes for the nation. That’s why he is at the center among the Gods.

Today’s advanced inventions are Man’s most ancient ideas

Please do leave your view of the painting. Share this with your friends and celebrate art!

Weigh the anchor and hoist the mizzen. Everyone! Board the ship we’re going to visit another beautiful discovery soon.