Despite some 3,000 miles of ocean separating the continents, the newly independent American republic maintained close connections to Europe. Founding figures Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson all served diplomatic roles in France, while elements of classical architecture, like the columned porticoes and pediments seen in ruins across Italy, Greece, and the south of France, made their way into the grand public edifices required by the new nation. These ancient references also manifested in American homes, through both architecture and furnishings.
Yet while writings that shared philosophical and political ideas and designs after the antique flowed over the Atlantic, the distance meant that travel was a luxury a privileged few could afford. Up until the end of the Napoleonic Wars, fewer than 2,000 Americans a year made the voyage, mostly for business or political reasons. And while substantial works of art travelled around Europe adorning the historic estates of the aristocracy, European sculpture – ancient or modern – was scarce in the US. This makes the gift that Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was offered in 1805 all the more generous.
The remarkable gift was a reduced marble copy of a Roman sculpture of Ariadne in graceful repose (in the Vatican Museums today). At the time, the sculpture was thought to represent Cleopatra, though Jefferson deduced it was the Cretan princess, who was abandoned by Theseus while asleep on the island of Naxos.
Keeping your eye on the GOAL