Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)Third President (1801-1809)
By his own instruction, Thomas Jefferson's tombstone notes his authorship of the Declaration of Independence, his founding of the University of Virginia, and his responsibility for Virginia's Statute of Religious Freedom. But it fails to mention his presidency. That omission, however, does not mean that his administration lacked significance. On the contrary, Jefferson's White House tenure marked one of this country's greatest territorial acquisitions, the Louisiana Purchase. Under his leadership, the country also stood its ground against interference from Africa's Barbary Coast pirate states in the American-Mediterranean trade. Unfortunately, these successes were ultimately eclipsed by the popular wrath resulting from the disastrous implementation of a trade embargo designed to curb British and French infringements on this country's shipping. Smarting from the sting of that wrath, Jefferson thus ended his presidency, regarding it as a best-forgotten "splendid misery."
This portrait of Jefferson is a copy of a likeness drawn by Gilbert Stuart
during the fifth year of the subject's presidency. Jefferson later described the
classically inspired profile as "the best [portrait] that has been done of me."
Charles Bird King (1785-1862),
By the mid-1780s, artist John Trumbull was planning an ambitious series of paintings portraying pivotal moments of the American Revolution. Among the pictures planned for this group was a scene showing Thomas Jefferson presenting the newly drafted Declaration of Independence to the Contintental Congress. Trumbull's hope was to base as many likenesses as possible in his historic tableaux on life sittings, and in late 1787 he arrived in Paris to paint Jefferson, who was then serving as ambassador to France.
Trumbull thought exceptionally well of the resulting likeness. In addition to the original one, which he painted into a preliminary oil study for the Declaration of Independence, he made three other versions. The one here, showing Jefferson in his mid-fifties, was painted for Maria Cosway, an English miniaturist with whom Jefferson conducted an ardent and probably platonic flirtation. Upon receiving the portrait, Mrs. Cosway wrote Jefferson, "Wish me joy for I possess your Picture."
John Trumbull (1756-1843)
after Gilbert Stuart
Oil on panel, 1836
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
NPG.92.110
Enlarged image
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Third President (1801-1809)
Oil on panel, 1788
Lent from the White House Collection
L/NPG.5.77
Enlarged image
Copyright © 2000 Smithsonian Institution