What Painting Techniques Did Brumidi Use?
The corridors were painted in a variety of techniques, including tempera, oil, and fresco. Brumidi was a master of buon fresco (true fresco), a technique in which the artist rapidly paints on a moist mortar surface with a mixture of mineral colors and water. The colors are immediately absorbed by the mortar and become an integral part of the wall once the surface cures. The process allows the artist little room for error. Brumidi employed an artistic technique known as trompe l’oeil (fool the eye) in the corridors. This process is designed to make the images appear three-dimensional rather than flat. [image: The Cession of Louisiana, a fresco by Brumidi] Restoration of the Brumidi Corridors Since they were first painted in the 1850s, the wall and ceiling decorations of the Brumidi Corridors have been repaired many times. In the past, such repair work included repeated retouching, repainting, and varnishing. Over time, these treatments camouflaged the decorations’ original appearance an
