by Naheed Ali

Created on: April 06, 2007   Last Updated: December 25, 2008

The seventeenth and eighteenth century is a period home to a number of accomplished artists and architects. One of these architects was Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and the author of the Declaration of Independence and The Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom.

THE ARCHITECT

Jefferson was born in Virginia
on April 13, 1743 (McLanathan 898).

He was a well-educated man with a high intellect and a love for the arts. He used his creative ideas to construct houses, public buildings, and scientific instruments. In addition to being a statesman and architect, Jefferson
was a musician and farmer. After his education at the College
of William and Mary, he married a wealthy widow who helped him become one of the most influential men in America.

Jefferson had many concepts that actually distinguished him from many other architects and philosophers of his era, while at the same time he looked upon other artists or philosophers such as Andrea Palladio and Plato.

He pushed for perfection in his artistic projects and structures. For example, when Jefferson used Roman and Greek-style columns in designing the Virginia State Capitol, he insisted that his workers make columns and pediments in accordance with the "Canon of Proportions," and that all measurements made were extremely precise.

Even the triangular shape found in the pediment of the Virginia Capitol was the "perfect triangle" said to be in due proportion with its surroundings. The Roman Canon of Proportions placed certain standards of architectural precision supposedly to be used by all future architects. (McNamara)

Jefferson introduced a more "clear" type of Neoclassicism in his works, which can be noticed in the obvious similarities between his buildings and those from Rome, Italy. In fact, during the French and Indian War, many people fled from England
to Rome and sought to "revive" the ideas of the Ancient Romans and Greeks.

A new intellectual movement called Romanticism (1750-1850) emerged. The Romanticists surveyed and referred to historical art and began a revival of Roman, Egyptian, Romanesque, Baroque, Renaissance, and Greek artistic ideas.

Neoclassicism can basically be separated into two parts: the Federal-style revival and the Greek revival. The Federal style involves Neoclassicism based upon Rome, whereas the Greek revival involves the use of Greek constructive ideas, as the name suggests. Jefferson's work reflected more of Federal style than Greek Neoclassicism.

His wide expeditions

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