''Thomas Jefferson'' is a 1911 bronze statue of a seated

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

created by

Karl Bitter Karl Theodore Francis Bitter (December 6, 1867 – April 9, 1915) was an Austrian-born American sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture, memorials and residential work. Life and career The son of Carl and Henrietta Bitter, he was ...

for the

Cuyahoga County Courthouse The Cuyahoga County Courthouse stretches along Lakeside Avenue at the north end of the Cleveland Mall in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The building was listed on the National Register along with the mall district in 1975. Other notable buildings of t ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States. A 1913 marble version, approximately 50 percent larger than the Cleveland statue, is installed at the

Missouri History Museum The Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri, showcases Missouri history. It is operated by the Missouri Historical Society, which was founded in 1866. Museum admission is free through a public subsidy by the Metropolitan ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Bronze replicas of the Cleveland statue were installed at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

in 1915, and at Jefferson High School in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

in 1916. A plaster replica was donated to Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, New York City in 1929.

Cuyahoga County Courthouse, Cleveland

In 1909, Bitter was commissioned to create a bronze statue of a seated Thomas Jefferson and a bronze statue of a seated Alexander Hamilton, to flank the entrance steps to the

in Cleveland, Ohio. Both works were cast by the

Roman Bronze Works Roman Bronze Works, now operated as Roman Bronze Studios, is a bronze foundry in New York City. Established in 1897 by Riccardo Bertelli, it was the first American foundry to specialize in the lost-wax casting method, and was the country's pre-emin ...

, and installed in 1911. The ''Jefferson'' is approximately in height. Jefferson is depicted wearing 18th-century clothes, sitting in a klismos chair and holding "papers of state in hand." According to Ferdinand Schevill, "It is a youthful and rebellious Jefferson, author of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

who appears before us in Cleveland." James Dennis describes the statue as having a "generally rustic appearance" in contrast to the nearby Hamilton whom he sees as an "aggressive young aristocrat." Bitter also created two marble attic figures for the courthouse, ''

John Somers John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, (4 March 1651 – 26 April 1716) was an English Whig jurist and statesman. Somers first came to national attention in the trial of the Seven Bishops where he was on their defence counsel. He published tracts on ...

'' and ''

Lord Mansfield William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, PC, SL (2 March 170520 March 1793) was a British barrister, politician and judge noted for his reform of English law. Born to Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth, Scotland, before moving to Lond ...

''.

Replicas

Missouri History Museum, St. Louis

Unveiling of the Karl Bitter statue of Thomas Jefferson at the Jefferson Memorial Building

Bitter served as director of sculpture for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the 1904 World's Fair held in

to celebrate the centenary of the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...

John Quincy Adams Ward John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, whose most familiar work is his larger than life-size standing statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall National Memorial in New York City. Early ye ...

was commissioned to create a heroic-size seated figure of ''Thomas Jefferson'' for the Exposition, but the commission went to

Charles Grafly Charles Allan Grafly, Jr. (December 3, 1862May 5, 1929) was an American sculptor, and teacher. Instructor of Sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for 37 years, his students included Paul Manship, Albin Polasek, and Walker Hanc ...

following Ward's withdrawal. Grafly's ''Seated Jefferson'' was modeled in staff, a temporary building material, and does not survive. In 1909, the Exposition's executive committee realized that the World's Fair had actually generated a profit. Instead of attempting to divide the profit among the Exposition's 15,000 stockholders, the committee decided to build a Jefferson Memorial in St. Louis. President Jefferson had played the central role in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, and there was not yet a national monument to him in Washington, D.C. Architects were hired and, after the usual issues surrounding attempting to design by committee were resolved, Isaac S. Taylor designed the Jefferson Memorial Building. The centerpiece of the memorial was to be a monumental statue of Jefferson. Bitter had already modeled his seated ''Jefferson'' for Cleveland, and the committee commissioned him to create a marble version 50 percent larger than the original. The Cleveland statue depicted a 33-year-old Jefferson, his age at the time of the writing of the

. The St. Louis statue was to depict a 60-year-old President of the United States, his age at the time of the

. The statue was roughed out of a forty-five ton block of white marble in Italy, and shipped to St. Louis, where Bitter did the finished carving

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

. The completed statue was unveiled on April 13, 1913, Jefferson's 170th birthday. The St. Louis ''Jefferson'' is in height, and stands upon a base. Bitter's one-quarter-size plaster model is in the collection of the

St. Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, M ...

University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Shortly after the unveiling of the St. Louis statue, Bitter received a commission from Charles R. Crane and Edwin Alderman to create a replica of the Jefferson statue for the

, a school to which Jefferson had strong ties. For this work Bitter slightly modified the previous statue, changing the position of the right arm slightly and aging Jefferson once again. This version was cast in bronze by the

, and dedicated on April 13, 1915, Jefferson's 172nd birthday and days after Bitter's death in a car accident.

Jefferson High School, Portland, Oregon

Another casting of the statue was located outside Jefferson High School in north

. The statue, which overlooks the football and track fields on the north side of the school, depicts Jefferson seated on a draped chair with his arm resting on its back. His right arm rests in his lap and holds a pen and papers. The bronze measures x x and sits on a stone base that measures x x . One inscription displays: The front of the plinth reads: . The base's west side displays: . The east side of the base includes inscriptions of the foundry Roman Bronze Works' mark as well as the text: . Jefferson High School graduates suggested installing a statue of the president on the campus in June 1913. The statue was dedicated in May 1916, having been funded by alumni, current students, and members of School District Number One's board of directors, who pledged to match the students' donation. In all $2,400 was raised for the work. It was surveyed and considered "treatment needed" by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's "

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Herit ...

" program in December 1993. On June 14, 2020, the statue was pushed onto the ground during one of the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...

Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn

In 1929, Bitter's widow and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation donated a plaster cast of the sculpture to Thomas Jefferson High School in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

.Thomas Jefferson (Brooklyn)
from SIRIS.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Thomas Jefferson, state=collapsed 1911 establishments in Ohio 1911 sculptures 1913 establishments in Missouri 1913 sculptures 1915 establishments in Virginia 1915 sculptures 1916 establishments in Oregon 1916 sculptures 1929 establishments in New York City 1929 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Ohio Bronze sculptures in Oregon Bronze sculptures in Virginia Buildings and structures in Brooklyn Buildings and structures in Charlottesville, Virginia Buildings and structures in Cleveland Buildings and structures in St. Louis Humboldt, Portland, Oregon Marble sculptures in the United States Monuments and memorials in Missouri Monuments and memorials in New York City Monuments and memorials in Ohio Monuments and memorials in Portland, Oregon Monuments and memorials in Virginia Monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests North Portland, Oregon Outdoor sculptures in Ohio Outdoor sculptures in Portland, Oregon Plaster sculptures in the United States Sculptures by Karl Bitter Sculptures of men in Missouri Sculptures of men in New York City Sculptures of men in Ohio Sculptures of men in Oregon Sculptures of men in Virginia Statues in Missouri Statues in New York City Statues in Ohio Statues in Portland, Oregon Statues in Virginia Statues of Thomas Jefferson University of Virginia Vandalized works of art in Oregon