View of the West Front of Monticello and Garden (Watercolor)
From Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia
Jane Braddick Peticolas (1791-1852)
1825
Watercolor on paper
34.6 x 46 (13 5/8 x 18 1/8 inches)
Inscription: Verso of View of the West Front of Monticello: "To Mrs. Ellen Coolidge, from a friend, Washington--1827"
History: Because Monticello was rarely depicted in Thomas Jefferson's lifetime, images such as this watercolor have become important documents in recording the appearance of Monticello and its surrounding landscape. According to Ellen Randolph Coolidge's grandson, this watercolor of Monticello was painted for Mrs. Coolidge by her friend, the Richmond artist Jane Braddick Peticolas.
The Randolph daughters, who frequently visited cousins in Richmond, knew Jane Braddick when she ran a school in Richmond before her marriage to Edward F. Peticolas, a painter and the second son of the established Richmond artist Philippe Abraham Peticolas, on October 17, 1822.
Description: The View of the West Front of Monticello shows Monticello with three of the Randolph children. George Wythe Randolph, the youngest boy, rolls a hoop, and two of his sisters, Mary and Cornelia, stand in the middle ground. An unidentified young man sits at the left sketching the scene.[1]
View of the West Front of Monticello and Garden now hangs in the North Octagonal Room at Monticello.
Provenance: Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge; by descent to Catherine Coolidge Lastavica; by gift to Thomas Jefferson Foundation in 1986.
Footnote
- ↑ Stein,Worlds, 148.
