The Apotheosis of George Washington

By Anonymous

 


Painted by Constanstino Brumindi in 1865, “The Apotheosis of George Washington” is a fresco painting wrapped around the eye of the US Capitol Building’s rotunda covering an area of 4,664 square feet. The painting depicts the nation’s first president ascending to godhood, flanked by feminine personifications of Liberty and Victory. Intermingled are similar depictions of War, Science, Commerce, Agriculture, and other industries, conversing with Roman gods and founding fathers. 

Bellah observes the American civil religion “was never anticlerical or militantly secular. On the contrary, it borrowed selectively from the religious tradition in such a way that the average American saw no conflict between the two.” In its Sistine-esque position, “The Apotheosis of George Washington” borrows its imagery acutely from the art and tradition of Ancient Rome. The tradition of deifying former leaders was popularized by Augustus Caesar when the civilization shifted from republic to empire, starting with his adoptive father Julius. Aside from depicting Rome’s focal gods (although notably no Jupiter, as if someone else is filling that role), Brumindi’s piece depicts a literalization of this same tradition. Washington himself is adorned in purple robes, a garment reserved for the highest Roman nobility on account of purple dye’s scarcity in the Mediterranean. 

On account of its centrality in the Capitol Building, I think there’s a lot worth unpacking in this massive piece. The choice to utilize all this Roman religious imagery is a safe one, grounded in a long-founded Renaissance tradition of using theological subjects from antiquity in European art. But it also causes no friction between itself and the predominantly Christian nation whose capital it’s displayed in. While the American Civil Religion may not make any Christian allegiances, I think you’d have a really tough time trying to display any former president nailed to a cross, or parting an ocean. 




Bellah, Robert N. 1967. “Civil Religion in America.” Daedalus, vol. 96 (no. 1): pp. 1–21. 


Constantino, Brumidi. 1865. “The Apotheosis of George Washington.” From Aoc.gov. Retrieved 

March 24, 2022 (https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/apotheosis-washington). 

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