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Virginia's Capitol
More than any other American, Thomas Jefferson was the founder of monument civic architecture in the United States.
Virginia's Capitol examines how Jefferson's achievement in civic design began with the Virginia State Capitol in which he united the lofty principles and grand scale of the Classical tradition with established Virginia customs.
In Paris as minister to France, Jefferson designed the new Capitol in 1785 with the help of the celebrated draftsman Charles-Louis Clérisseau. Hoping to safeguard the conception from changes in Richmond, Jefferson commissioned a scale model of the exterior from the model-maker Jean-Pierre Fouquet. Recent conservation of the model, displayed for many years in the Capitol, offers fascinating insights into Jefferson's aspirations for the Capitol and how this model reflected changes made to the Capitol throughout its history. |