Congressional Gold Medal For Brumidi?

He’s been dead for 127 years, but Constantino Brumidi may soon be eligible for a Congressional Gold Medal thanks to Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Enzi and Clinton have introduced a bill (S. 254) to honor Brumidi, who died on Feb. 19, 1880, after slipping and nearly falling off a scaffold while working on the Rotunda frieze several weeks earlier. The Enzi-Clinton legislation on Brumidi, which now has 97 sponsors, is scheduled to considered at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee this Wednesday.

Born in Italy in on July 26,1805, Brumidi spent the last 27 years of his life working on frescoes, paintings and sculptures that adorn the Capitol building. Although he was paid pretty well for his work, Brumidi died nearly penniless, and his stunning work in the Capitol (get some binoculars and look at the “Apotheosis of George Washington” the next time you walk through the Rotunda) failed to get the recognition it deserved. However, a Brumidi-renaissance began in the 1950s, thanks to the work of Myrtle Cheney Murdock, the wife of a congressman who made it her mission to alert the world to Brumidi's genius.

Here’s the only known quote ever credited to Brumidi, which gives you some insight into what motivated the fascinating man:  “I have no longer any desire for fame and fortune. My one ambition and my daily prayer is that I may live long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one country on earth in which there is liberty.”