A view of one of the Brumidi corridors (AoC)

These decorative wall paintings were designed by Constantino Brumidi, who was born in Rome in 1805.  In 1855, Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, Engineer of the Capitol Extension, hired Brumidi to decorate the Capitol.  Brumidi’s designs for the Senate corridors were based on Raphael’s in the Vatican loggia and were executed by him and other painters from many nations.  Brumidi died in 1880, four months after slipping and nearly falling from a scaffold while working on the Rotunda frieze.

The corridors were painted in a variety of techniques: the walls were painted in lime-wash fresco, the ceilings in tempera, and the lunettes in true fresco.  True fresco is a technique in which the artist rapidly paints on a moist mortar surface with a mixture of mineral colors and water so that the painting becomes a permanent part of the wall.

Throughout the north corridor are medallion portraits of Revolutionary War leaders.  Images of American fauna such as birds, squirrels, snakes, and chipmunks are primary decorative elements.  Brumidi often related his art to the intended use of a room.  S-128 was first occupied by the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, and above the entrance to S-128 Brumidi painted a fresco titled Bellona, the Roman Goddess of War.

Some areas within the Brumidi Corridors were left incomplete, due to insufficient time or funds.  Two modern paintings in the north corridor are The Moon Landing by Allyn Cox (1975) and the space shuttle Challenger and its crew by Charles Schmidt (1987).

The Patent Corridor contains three Brumidi frescoes of inventors: Robert Fulton with his steamboat, the Clermont; John Fitch, inventor of an earlier steamboat; and Benjamin Franklin with his printing press.The corridors are currently being restored to their original appearance.  Throughout the years, they were overpainted in oil, obscuring the original vibrant fresco.  The Patent Corridor has been restored, and the remaining walls and ceilings will also be restored.