Konstantinos Broumidis - Painter

THE "MICHAEL ANGEL" OF THE USA

Konstantinos Broumidis was born in Italy on July 26th, 1805 to a Greek father and an Italian mother (Anna Biancini). More specifically, Konstantinos was the son of Stavros Broumidis from Filiatra, who left his motherland for Italy shortly before or shortly after the Orlophics, (1770), to escape the persecution of the Turks.

At a very young age he showed his talent in painting and at the age of thirteen he enrolled at the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome. He attended art classes in various museums and taught alongside top-notch painters who specialized in wall paintings -frescoes. So, along with other painters, he undertook the restoration of Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican. At the same time, he painted the portrait of Papa Pio IX. Due to political turbulence in Italy, Konstantinos Broumidis was forced to emigrate to the United States on September 18th, 1852. In fact, he was serving as a Vatican captain at the time. In a fight he refused to shoot and was jailed for fourteen months. He was released on the condition that he would not return to Italy.

In the US, for 25 years, he designed the interior of the American Capitol Rotunda, with his most important work being "The Glorification of Washington," which was created shortly after the American Civil War. This work is inspired by Greek mythology and Washington is depicted in the sky, dressed in purple. To his right and left are the gods Niki and Freedom, surrounded by figures such as Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dimitra. Among his other works in the Capitol are "Legislation" and the portrait of Benjamin Franklin. In the dome of the Capitol he has also painted the goddess Athena talking with Benjamin Franklin, the inventor of the Morse telegraph, and Fulton, the inventor of the first steamship, in an allegory of art and literature. In total, he painted over 1500 sq. M. and his frescoes exist up to this day. Finally, in 1854 he traveled to Mexico, where he painted the "Holy Trinity" in the capital's Cathedral.

From his Renaissance influences, (Michael Aggelos, Raphael), he got the nickname "Michael Angelus of the USA". H e spent the last years of his life alone and poor. He died on February 19th, 1880 and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery, Washington's celebrity cemetery. However, his grave was left without an inscription. In April 2007, the US government organized a ceremony to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth. Also, in 2008, he received the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his contribution to the American state, and a statue has been adorning the Brown-Leanos Park in Anapolis for some time now, at the initiative of the Greek and Italian communities.