Thomas Jefferson's Monticello: An Intimate Portrait

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding Photographic Tour of a National Treasure.......1997-03-20

Photographer Robert Lautman has taken and assembled a remarkable set of photographs depicting scenes which a visitor would see upon touring the wonder that is called Monticello. Near the beginning of this book are two architectural drawings showing the first floor room layouts. Numbers appear on these drawings and they indicate the approximate camera positions for each black and white photographic plate.This is an outstanding photo-tour of Jefferson's custom built mansion. I would have given it a 10 rating had it not been for a few little features and omissions which detracted from the work. The major distraction centered on an obviously retouched photograph showing the surrounding hills as seen from Monticello. The photographer, in an attempt to show what the view might have looked like for Jefferson, had to manipulate the photograph to remove or minimize modern distractions such as houses, roads and other man-made edifices. While the intent to recapture a lost vision is a good one the execution wanting. It would have been nice to see more than one photograph of the second floor rooms.

Average customer rating:

Thomas Jefferson Architect
Thomas Jefferson
Manufacturer: Library Reprints
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0722242301

Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Democracy

Average customer rating:

Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Democracy
John B. Severance
Manufacturer: Clarion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Architecture | Arts & Music | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0395845130

Book Description

The words of the Declaration of Independence, so familiar to us and so important to our country, were those of Thomas Jefferson. He was a primary force behind United States independence. Without his influence, our country would be vastly different from the nation we know today. Jefferson initiated public education, established a national library, and paved the way for the abolishment of slavery. Although he was not a power-hungry or even ambitious politician, Jefferson served in many different offices, including president, in order to help his fledgling country remain on its feet. His faith and dedication to the idea of self-government never wavered, even in the face of many personal hardships. John B. Severance traces Jefferson's life from his plantation boyhood to his two terms as president and his last days preparing for the opening of the University of Virginia, weaving details of both Jefferson's political career and his rich personal life together to create a thoughtful and well-researched biography. Jefferson quotes, bibliography, index.

Thomas Jefferson: The Built Legacy of Our Third President

Average customer rating:

Simply splendid

Thomas Jefferson: The Built Legacy of Our Third President
Hugh Howard
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0847825469
Release Date: 2003-08-23

Amazon.com

Thomas Jefferson, Architect: The Built Legacy of Our Third President, with text by Hugh Howard and photos by Roger Straus III, shows that the third U.S. President not only shaped democracy but also made the classical style of architecture an American architecture. Today, more than any other style, the columns and rotundas of classical Greece and Rome suggest "U.S. government building." Jefferson was a Renaissance man--inventor, politician, philosopher, scientist, doctor--but the dwellings and civic temples he designed are the only tangible legacy of his most Americans actually see every day. Arguably the crown jewel of Jefferson's architectural oeuvre, his Monticello mansion in Virginia receives a worthy 33 pages, with plenty of interior and exterior photographs. The Virginia Capitol also gets a chapter, as does his other home, Poplar Forest, along with other private dwellings Jefferson designed. Also in focus are public buildings such as the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, with its Rotunda at the head of a great lawn flanked by the copious colonnades-a design familiar now in campuses nationwide. Throughout the book, Howard guides us through the halls, sitting rooms, and grounds with writing that is knowledgeable but not overly technical. Straus' photos show off the estates and edifices in peaceable, natural light, illustrating some interiors as they would have been lit in Jefferson's day (i.e., by the sun). If not for Jefferson's vision, the book implies, our nation would look quite different today. -Eric Reyes

Book Description

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was also its first great architect. The Jeffersonian Classical style has been so influential that, along with Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson, Jefferson is one of the three most recognized architects in American history. Although never formally trained as an architect, Jefferson intensively studied the architecture of Paris when he resided there as minister to France and read extensively on classical architecture, particularly Palladio's Four Books on Architecture, all of which gave him a firm footing in the classical tradition.

Monticello, his own home, was constantly redesigned by Jefferson during his life time, and he referred to it as his essay in architecture. The University of Virginia, which he founded and conceived the architecture for, is perhaps the greatest campus of any American university and certainly one of this country's greatest public spaces anywhere. Both of these are well served by the beautiful panoramic photographs in this volume, which show them in the landscape they are situated in, an integral part of Jefferson's design. Less well known, but included here, is the balance of Jefferson's work as an architect: the Virginia State Capitol and over a dozen private homes which still stand today. Illustrated with splendid color photography by the same author-photographer team that created Rizzoli's Wright for Wright, this is the first volume to combine all the extant work of Jefferson.

Customer Reviews:

Simply splendid.......2004-02-05

I live in Virginia, and have relative easy access to many of Jefferson's architectural accomplishments. I've enjoyed many, many good books about the man and his brilliance with buildings. Both of these things said, Mr. Howard's thoughtful, engaging text coupled with the truly breathtaking photography by Mr. Straus make this work a must-have treasure for anyone with more than a passing interest in Jefferson the architect. I cannot convey in words how Mr. Straus's skill with his many cameras give the viewer such a sense of immediacy about the buildings shown in this work. I've been on the grounds of several of Mr. Jefferson's buildings shown in this book - and photographer Straus's pictures truly give the viewer a sense of simply standing there on the grounds, seeing it all, "live and in person". As for the writing, it is all too common that sometimes a grand picture book has terribly dry and uninviting writing. Not so with this book. The writer has a highly engaging style that is yet not too obvious in its inviting charm, and, well, had me up reading the text this morning around 3. Three a.m. The writing is that good - and could stand alone even without those incredible pictures.
The book also does a beautiful brief salute to the remarkable Fiske Kimball, who published a book in the early 1900s by the same name. The work was a landmark compilation of Jefferson's architectural drawings. Those readers familiar with Kimball's life accomplishments will appreciate the fresh photographs of his private home Shack Mountain and its many grace notes to Jefferson's influence.
I had one small disappointment with the book but it is more puzzling than a showstopper: the pictures of "Bremo" , a property here in Virginia reputed to be more Jefferson than Jefferson himself in architectural style, just shows pictures from a historical archive. I wish Mr. Straus could have gained access to the property to show us all Bremo today as he does so remarkably with the other buildings. The other small regret is that I did not buy my copy of this marvelous book from Amazon. I paid full price at a local Roanoke bookshop - no regrets in supporting an excellent local business but the book's full price at first glance is steep. But you will quickly notice the book's very fine paper, binding and those other finishing touches that are hallmarks of truly beautiful books.
A treasure of a book. Especially if you love Jefferson's touch with architecture.

Thomas Jefferson, architect and builder;

Average customer rating:

Thomas Jefferson, architect and builder;
I. T Frary
Manufacturer: Garrett and Massie
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B0006ASKCO

In Jefferson's Shadow: The Architecture of Thomas R. Blackburn

Average customer rating:

little-known early American architect and his work and influence

In Jefferson's Shadow: The Architecture of Thomas R. Blackburn
Bryan C. Green
Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1568984790

Book Description

In 1999, historians at the Virginia Historical Society acquired three curiously bound volumes of drawings and documents created between 1821 and 1858 by a long -- and unjustifiably -- forgotten architect named Thomas R. Blackburn.
Further inspection revealed that these were, in fact, no ordinary documents, but a unique window onto the life of a distinguished builder and his revered master: Thomas Jefferson. In these extraordinary books, we find Blackburn, at first a young carpenter, engaged in the construction of Jefferson's famed "academical village" at the University of Virginia. He simultaneously embarked on an ambitious program of architectural study, guided, it appears, by Jefferson himself. The drawings he executed in the four decades that followed -- extraordinary ink and watercolor explorations of his many residential and civic commissions -- bear witness to his emergence as a mature and prolific architect in his own right.
In Jefferson's Shadow is a unique document of the relationship between an unknown but highly skilled country builder and the American statesman widely considered this nation's first gentleman architect. But it is also an indispensable resource on the little-understood practice of architecture in the early and mid-nineteenth century.

Customer Reviews:

little-known early American architect and his work and influence .......2006-12-02

Thomas R. Blackburn's recently discovered architectural drawings and related papers at the Virginia Historical Society provide a look at his "architectural education." Blackburn worked on the University of Virginia with Thomas Jefferson and afterwards went on to build notable buildings on his own in Virginia's Piedmont region and Shenandoah Valley. Among these buildings are the Western Lunatic Asylum and the John A. G. Davis House. The discovered drawings and related papers are reproduced, most one per page, in over 150 color plates following the 100 or so pages of biographical and evaluative text by Green, an architectural historian teaching and writing mostly on Virginia architecture. Overall, text and plates establish Blackburn as an important and in some ways seminal first-generation American architect who widened the geographical range of the classic architecture related mostly to Jefferson.

Average customer rating:

Thomas Jefferson, Landscape Architect
Frederick Doveton Nichols
Manufacturer: University of Virginia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Landscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Landscape | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Garden and Farm Books of Thomas Jefferson

ASIN: 081390899X

Book Description

Collaboration with the greatest botanists of his time, an instinctive humanitarianism, and a natural ingenuity in landscape design combined to make Thomas Jefferson a pioneer in American landscape architecture. Frederick D. Nichols and Ralph E. Griswold, in this close study of Jefferson¹s many notes, letters, and sketches, present a clear and detailed interpretation of his extraordinary accomplishments in the field.

Book Description

In the introduction to this work, Frederick Doveton Nichols observes, "Jefferson stands alone as the most distinguished native architect of the Early Republic." The drawings collected in the pages that follow this assertion bear out the truth of Nichol's words. From the graceful floor plans of Monticello to the public buildings of Williamsburg and the pavilions of the University of Virginia, the maginative and mathematical mind of Thomas Jefferson takes shape in the architectural sketches for these landmark structures. A detailed checklist is appended to the text and provides a thorough overview of Jefferson's drawings.

Customer Reviews:

An Armchair View of Jefferson's Architectural and Drawing Sk.......2002-02-01

Jefferson's architectural drawings, edited and compiled by a noted architectural historian who taught at the university which Jefferson founded, give the general reader a perfect opportunity to observe Jefferson's talents not just as an architect but as a draftsman and artist. The drawings of the 1st and 2nd Monticello convincingly reveal to a general audience how the design and shape of his beloved home evolved from that of a two-story villa derived from the designs of the famous Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio to the red-bricked, octagonal, and domed three-story Neoclassical building that we see today. The drawings of Jefferson's other architectural masterpieces like the University of Virginia, Virginia State Capitol, and Poplar Forest also show this extraordinary Virginian's knowledge and mastery of the concepts of Classical architecture. This book is a must for all who admire Thomas Jefferson the architect and for all who want to know how he designed and built such beautiful buildings without any professional training as an architect.

Sterling Biographies: Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Freedom (Sterling Biographies)

Average customer rating:

Sterling Biographies: Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Freedom (Sterling Biographies)
Rita Thievon Mullin
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1402733976

Book Description

One of the great thinkers of all time, Thomas Jefferson helped shape America in its early years, and his ideas continue to inspire us today. His amazing contributions include not only writing the Declaration of Independence, but his actions as the United States’ third President, as well as his influence as a scientist, inventor, farming pioneer, and educator. The engrossing life of this founding father is fully captured in this richly detailed biography, from Jefferson’s childhood in a simple wooden farmhouse in Virginia through his careers in law, diplomacy, and politics, in addition to his marriage to his beloved Martha and the family tragedies they endured.

Book Description

Using this versatile and easy-to-use medium, Michael Sanders shows you how to master water mixable oils - with hints, tips and guidelines on glazing, blending, scumbling, stippling, impasto and more. The paints work just like conventional oils and their consistency, lightfastness, transparency/opacity and performance allow artists to use them for all oil painting techniques. In this book, Michael includes simple step-by-step demonstrations to build up confidence and to help improve skills. He offers expert guidance on the medium, showing how to create successful, vibrant paintings full of atmosphere and interest. Landscapes, flowers, buildings and more are included, providing an ideal guide and an inspirational introduction to these envioronmentally friendly paints.

Customer Reviews:

Waste of Money.......2006-02-22

Sadly, this book was a waste of money. It was a gift, with paints, for my husband. I was looking for instructions on using the water mixable oils, not painting techniques, and this book offered nothing. I should have purchased the book by Sean Dye but I went with the less expensive. You get what you pay for.

Don't buy it.......2004-05-01

The book had very little information that was useful...buy instead...Water Soluble Oils..

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books