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 to Europe elevated and strengthened his interest in classical architecture. "I am immersed in antiquities from morning to night," he wrote (McLanathan 898). Also, he favored a stronger state government than a Federal government since he believed democracy "applied to the individual." Therefore he designed statehouses such as the Virginia Sate Capitol to be rather grand/elaborate.
(McNamara) Jefferson
was a man with many burdens and responsibilities to attend to, and he became so overwhelmed in his public duties that eventually he would encounter large amounts of debt. Farming and cultivating at Monticello (Figure 1) plantation were basically the main sources of income he used for supporting himself and his family.
Nevertheless, his works remain extremely notable even after his death at Monticello on July 4, 1826 (McLanathan 898), the same day on which President John Adams died.
HIS WORKS; MONTICELLO
Thomas Jefferson named his self-designed home "Monticello," which means "hill" or "little mountain" in Italian. The reason why Jefferson named his house as such is still unclear, (Bowman 1) but it is known that the design of the house refers back to the work of Andrea Palladio. The original planning of the house had double-storied columns at the entrance in its blueprints.
However, Jefferson later changed his mind to give it more of a French Neoclassical look. In fact, the advancement of Monticello from a simple Virginia
country house to a building with articulate massing of central and end pavilions shows Jefferson's increasing interest of Palladian principles.
In fact, the ground floor of the house was actually remodeled to be more than twice the size of the original house (McLaughlin, 253). Jefferson
was a unique architect instilled with the ideal of Neoclassicism (McLanathan 898).
The columns were typical of Roman architecture and are currently evident in many Roman ruins such as the Maison Care (Figure 2) in France. Another example of Federal Neoclassicism is in the octagonal dome room that lies on the top of the rotunda.
The dome is a recurring structure in Ancient Roman architecture, and the dome atop the Pantheon's rotunda (Figure 3) is an example. (He designed the University of Virginia, which also had a rotunda (Figure 4).)
Monticello
also had a garden in which he grew many vegetables, many of them being imported from foreign countries. He was fond of vegetable gardens and was constantly trying to better his cultivation techniques. Planted shrubs and "pet trees," as he called them while showing them to guests, surrounded the complex (McNamara).
He built a pavilion across from the kitchen, from which he was able to read books while watching his plantation crew work.
Though Monticello
was basically a brick house, most of the labor that went into it was by sawyers and carpenters. "Only the cellars, foundations, walls and chimneys were masonry and virtually everything else was wood" (McLaughlin 84). The brick walls were raised rather quickly, but Jefferson had carpenters working on the house for decades (McLaughlin 84).
As one enters Monticello he or she is introduced into the Jefferson museum, which is actually the focal point of the entrance hall. In it he would show his guests all the innovative gadgets and instruments he had designed, such as the "day clock, which could relay what day of the week it was."
"The guests found the entrance hall to be a veritable museum of natural history" (Malone 166). Guests would often leave with descriptions of the paintings, saying, "The best were in the lofty" (Malone 166) living room. "The vertical balusters accentuated the height of the room and contrasted with the Palladian cornice behind them" (McLaughlin 253).
The interior of the building also had a tearoom, a parlor room (which was actually the family room) and a large library. The spacious house on Monticello was not designed just to provide for the large family (that lived there) and the relatives who would go there to visit. It also provided a "gracious hospitality for visitors who came out of curiosity or as pilgrims to a shrine" (Malone 163).
HIS WORKS: THE UNIVERSITY
OF VIRGINIA
The University of Virginia was the grandest of all Thomas Jefferson's projects; it was also his last work of architecture. When the Virginia State Legislature was proposing to build a university, Jefferson automatically assumed the role of architect and builder. "The distinction of the University he wanted to create lay not only in its architectural design but also in its academic structure" (Malone 418).
In addition, during the beginning stages of the project, Jefferson
actually had an Italian sculpture to make marble capitals for the columns of the buildings at the University (McLaughlin 310), which demonstrates his devotion towards the academic institution. The exterior was structured upon a central rotunda that had a dome.
This is where the gymnasium, library, and administrative offices were. Projecting outward from the central rotunda was the "academic village," as Jefferson called it.
This architectural feature is similar to Monticello's "dependencies," that would extend out from the mansion. The professors would reside in their offices (at the Academic Village) with the classrooms nearby. There were also plots for vegetable gardens between the left and right wings of the compound.
Jefferson's' theory was that the academic village would be a self-sustaining compound for the faculty and staff. Indeed it was a brilliant/feasible idea for a University that would start out with only 6 professors. (McLaughlin 310, 377; McNamara)
The exterior grounds of the University had serpentine walls made of brick. In the University progress report of 1821, Jefferson
wrote that six pavilions, eighty-two dormitories, and two hotels had been completed.
In his report for 1822 Jefferson said that the pavilions, dormitories, and hotels were all finished except for a little plastering and a few columns that were awaiting the capitals from Italy. Overall, visitors' admiration for the architecture of the University began to grow extremely fast. In the summer of 1822 one visitor had judged it to be unsurpassed, "perhaps unequaled in elegance convenience, comfort, and utility." (Malone 424, 386, 392).
WORKS CITED:
Bowman, Rebecca. The Name "Monticello." Monticello Research Department. 25 June 2004.
Malone, Dumas. The Sage of Monticello.
Boston: Little, Brown and
Company, 1981.
McLanathan, Richard B. K. "Thomas Jefferson." Encyclopedia of World Art. New York: McGraw Hill, 1963. McLaughlin, Jack.
Jefferson and Monticello. The Biography of a Builder. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1988.
McNamara, Mary Jo. Academic Lecture. State University
of NewYork at Potsdam. 24 June 2004.
"Roman Art." Praeger Encyclopedia of Art." New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cunningham, Noble E. Jr. In Pursuit of Reason: The life of Thomas Jefferson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
Press, 1987. Mathews, Kevin. University
of Virginia. Artifice, Inc. 25 June 2004.
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