Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Classical Taste in the Architectural World of Thomas Jefferson

Classical Taste in the Architectural World of Thomas Jefferson

Jordan, Alley Marie

Paperback

Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception

Art HistoryArchitectsArchitecture History

PREORDER - Expected ship date January 21, 2027

ISBN10: 1350428795
ISBN13: 9781350428799
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Jan 21 2027
Pages: 224
Weight: 1.00
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

Reaching beyond politics and law, this book focuses on Thomas Jefferson as an aesthetic classicist.

Jefferson embraced the influence of antiquity through his adoption of classical architecture in his Virginia residences, in order to establish Rome as an ancestor to America. In a time of significant political and cultural change, he aligned himself with a Greco-Romano legacy that represented knowledge, power and art. Alley Marie Jordan studies the architectural and landscape spaces of Jefferson's classical taste, which include the villas of Monticello and Poplar Forest, as well as the University of Virginia. An examination of these places exposes his deeply entrenched views of the importance of classics in Virginia, and reveals them as expressions of admiration of classical antiquity.

Seeking to uncover an underexplored side of his character, Jordan deconstructs his identity through a classical lens and illustrates his influence on American culture, as well as his desire to reform it via the classics. By dislodging Jefferson from American politics, this study redefines his worldview and motivations for inventing an American virtue based on Horace's utile dulci. Although his participation in acquiring classical taste was not unique for his time, he did accomplish a unique aim with classicism: the blending of the American landscape with classical culture to create a 'new' American virtue.

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