Setting the Presidential Model: Thomas Jefferson as Executive Tastemaker

There's little doubt that Thomas Jefferson devoted his life to nation building and propagating a lasting American identity. Through patronage of the arts, Jefferson hoped to establish new American models and cultivate taste among his recently established fellow citizens. Yet, little attention has been given to Jefferson's role as a collector and curator of presidential portraits. Not only was he among the first to establish a collection of American leaders in portrait form, including of himself, he was also likely the first to publicly display a sizable American portrait collection in Paris. There, he attracted leading figures in the arts, such as the designer Charles-Louis Clerisseau, in the sciences, such as naturalist George-Louis Leclerc Buffon, and in the salons, such as Madame Helvétius. Through diplomatic privilege, political authority, and his bully pulpit, Jefferson used his collection to support his theory of the “natural aristocracy” and white male American character as inherent qualities of the POTUS. In doing so, Jefferson simultaneously sought to shield his own legacy and character, which was under increased attack. Jefferson’s rivals branded him un-American during the presidential election of 1800 and James Callendar published a series of newspaper articles alleging that Jefferson had children with his slave Sally Hemings. The centerpiece of Jefferson’s success in patronage is the life-portrait of George Washington, sculpted by Jean-Antoine Houdon, completed in 1792, exhibited at the Louvre during a biennial salon, and permanently installed in the rotunda of the Jefferson-designed Virginia State Capitol in 1796.