Thomas Jefferson (The Medallion Portrait), 1805 (oil & egg on paper laid down on canvas)

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Few American paintings demonstrate the early nineteenth- century fascination with the ancient world as powerfully as this profile portrait. Stuart modeled it directly on the imagery of ancient Greek and Roman coins, medallions, and marble relief sculptures. The third president was certainly familiar with such classical sources. After sitting for the portrait in Washington, he thanked Stuart for “taking the head ‘à la antique.’” Jefferson, one of the chief proponents of the neoclassical style in America, was particularly enamored of the profile format. Stuart’s painting was the fourth in a series of profile portraits that the president had commissioned for display at Monticello, his home in Virginia. Stuart was less familiar with this style of likeness; the portrait is unique in his oeuvre, which largely consists of half-length portraits in oil.