Thomas Jefferson

Description

Pencil on paper drawing of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), c. 1802, attributed to Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820). Latrobe began a correspondence with then Vice President Thomas Jefferson after his arrival in the United States in the late-1790s. He initially settled in Richmond, Virginia, and designed the Virginia Penitentiary Building before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1803, now friends and colleagues, President Jefferson appointed Latrobe the Architect of the Capitol, a position he held until 1811.