Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (Silhouette)
Jefferson owned a silhouette of Aime Jacques Alexandre Bonpland, a botanist who collaborated with Alexander von Humboldt in his explorations of South America.
Articles about Jefferson's interest in art and art objects connected to Monticello.
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Jefferson owned a silhouette of Aime Jacques Alexandre Bonpland, a botanist who collaborated with Alexander von Humboldt in his explorations of South America.
Jefferson displayed busts of himself and Alexander Hamilton in Monticello's Entrance Hall where they could sit "opposed in death as in life."
Jefferson owned a bust of Russian Tsar Alexander I with whom he exchanged letters starting in 1804.
Alexander von Humboldt, a celebrated explorer known for his scientific contributions, visited Jefferson in 1804, establishing a lifelong friendship.
Jefferson's owned portraits of Vespucci, Columbus, Magellan, and Cortez, who deemed "early American worthies."
Learn about the importance of the sculpture of Andrew Jackson in the context of Jefferson's era and political landscape.
Anthony Fothergill was a doctor who accompanied a delegation led by Charles Willson Peale to meet Thomas Jefferson at the President's House in 1804.
A drawing of Benjamin Henry Latrobe's landmark Bank of Pennsylvania, sent to Jefferson in 1808 by architect Robert Mills, whose career Jefferson helped launch by connecting him with Latrobe.
Jefferson owned a copy of Battle at Bunker's Hill, John Trumbull's epic depiction of a key event in the American Revolutionary War.
Find out why Thomas Jefferson purchased a copy of Houdon's bust of Benjamin Franklin and displayed it at Monticello with other notable Americans.
Jefferson owned a bust of French intellectual and economist Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot created by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon.
Jefferson acquired several examples of the camera obscura, a device that led to the invention of photography.
Read Jefferson's catalogue of paintings displayed at Monticello and his descriptions of them and their histories.
Charles Willson Peale, was among the most gifted and well-know artists of early America. A noted naturalist and museum curator, Peale and Jefferson enjoyed a life-long friendship.
Jefferson owned an engraving of the Chateau des Tuileries, which was the site of many of Jefferson's social activities in Paris.
Jefferson was fascinated by the world's first iron bridge over the River Severn in Coalbrookdale, England, and hung a print of it in the Dining Room at Monticello.
Thomas Jefferson owned an engraving of John Trumbull's famous depiction of "The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack of Quebec"; and displayed it at Monticello.
Jefferson supported the creation John Trumbull's masterpiece, “The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, July 4th, 1776,” and displayed a copy of it at Monticello
Prints of scenes from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer-Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew are among the rare survivors from Jefferson's print collection.
Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of Fright of Astyanax by Benjamin Rush, which he had inherited from his friend Thaddeus Kosciuszko.
Thomas Jefferson's proposed gallery for Monticello (ca. 1771) was a list of nineteen works of art he wanted to display in his mountaintop home.
Jefferson owned a painting of George Washington by Joseph Wright and hung it in a place of honor is his Parlor at Monticello.
Thomas Jefferson exhibited not one, but two portrait busts of George Washington at Monticello, including one by the renowned French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon.
A small 1790 drypoint etching of George Washington by artist Joseph Wright — whose portrait of Washington Jefferson considered the best likeness — purchased by Jefferson and displayed in Monticello's Tea Room.