United States Capitol Historical Society

Brumidi, who honed his craft painting frescoes and murals in Rome, would leave his mark throughout the nation's most important building, earning the honorific the United States Capitol's Indispensable Artist.

The Capitol Historical Society wrote an essay on the man, quote, "Those beautiful hallways on the Senate side of the Capitol? Brumidi.

The historic committee rooms and the fancy reception rooms? Brumidi.

The decorative band wrapping around the rotunda with the scenes from American history? That would be Brumidi, too." Brumidi's crowning achievement, among many throughout the Capitol painted over a 25-year period, is the mural known as The Apotheosis of Washington.

Among his achievements, he signed into law the Northwest Ordinance of 1789, which, among other things, precluded slavery in the new territories of the United States.

After serving just two terms, Washington once again walked away from power to return to Mount Vernon.

But who was Brumidi, and how did he become the US Capitol's most important painter? Here's how the US Capitol Historical Society described him.

"As a boy in Italy, he studied at a famous arts academy and learned how to fresco, painting on wet plaster so colors could become a permanent part of the wall.