On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1852, Constantino Brumidi arrived in New York as a refugee from Rome. He was already an accomplished artist, but in America, he found the work that would consume the rest of his life. For the next twenty-five years, Brumidi climbed scaffolds, painted ceilings, and covered the halls of the U.S. Capitol with scenes drawn from American history and the ideals of his adopted country.

His greatest work waited 180 feet above the Rotunda floor. There, inside the Capitol dome, Brumidi painted George Washington, known to many as "America's Indispensable Man," rising into the heavens surrounded by Liberty, Victory, Fame, and figures representing the original thirteen states. Our own Lee Habeeb shares how an Italian immigrant came to paint The Apotheosis of Washington, earning a remarkable nickname of his own in the process: “America’s Michelangelo.”

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