Upon our second visit to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia, we had the great pleasure of seeing him with his horses.
I knew I had to get a photo of this. Just wait until the folks back home, “in the future,” see this……Thomas Jefferson, on his most well-known riding horse Caractacus.1
Continue reading Lost Photos of History – Thomas Jefferson at Monticello Part II
After we visited with James Madison, we briefly stopped in to check on another great of history, the Sage of Monticello himself, Thomas Jefferson.
Of course, I couldn’t resist this chance to get a snapshot of the author of the Declaration of Independence. I snapped this picture of him in the front parlor of Monticello, writing a letter at a small desk. I noticed his violin bow beside the letter he was writing.
Wow! Time-traveling can’t get any more exciting than this!
Continue reading Lost Photos of History – Thomas Jefferson at Monticello Part I
James Madison was known for dressing in black. His trusted slave, Paul Jennings stated, “I have heard Mr. Madison say, that when he went to school, he cut his own wood for exercise. He often did it also when at his farm in Virginia. He was very neat, but never extravagant, in his clothes. He always dressed wholly in black — coat, breeches, and silk stockings, with buckles in his shoes and breeches. He never had but one suit at a time. He had some poor relatives that he had to help, and wished to set them an example of economy in the matter of dress. He was very fond of horses, and an excellent judge of them, and no jockey ever cheated him. He never had less than seven horses in his Washington stables while President.”1
Today I snapped this candid photo of James Madison sitting in his drawing room at Montpelier. It was a rare occasion to see him dressed a little spiffier. This was all Dolley’s doing as she was tired of seeing him dressed in black. Dolley added a little extra color to her little husband by tying his queue in a red ribbon.
Continue reading Lost Photos of History – James Madison In The Drawing Room At Montpelier
This post is part III in the series of James Madison life mask posts. For more history, see What Did The Founding Fathers Look Like? – James Madison and The Life Mask Face of James Madison – A Photoshop Restoration.
In this post we now get to see a side profile of James Madison from his life mask. The life mask was cast in 1825 of Madison’s head and upper torso by John Henri Isaac Browere.
Continue reading The Life Mask Face of James Madison – A Photoshop Restoration Part II
Welcome to part II of my Photoshop reconstruction using the life mask of Thomas Jefferson by John Issac Henri Browere.
This post showcases a front-facing Photoshop reconstructed image of Thomas Jefferson as well as examining what really happened during the creation of Jefferson’s life mask.
The popular belief is that Thomas Jefferson almost suffocated during the creation of his life mask. Is this really true?
Continue reading Did J. I. Browere Almost Suffocate Thomas Jefferson?
In an era with no photography and so many variations among paintings, we are left scratching our heads. Now we can know. Using Adobe Photoshop, I’ve attempted to faithfully reproduce 3rd U.S. President Thomas Jefferson as he might have looked in 1825 using his life mask. We can now see what Jefferson looked like, although no photographs of him exist.
Continue reading The Life Mask Face of Thomas Jefferson – A Photoshop Restoration
This post is part II and somewhat a repeat of What Did The Founding Fathers Look Like? – James Madison. However, unlike my first post, I now have higher quality images to work with, thanks to the Fenimore Art Museum. I will be adding side views of Madison’s face to this post in the future.
No photographs of Madison exist, but we do have his life mask showing his exact likeness, wrinkles and all. I’m sure the War of 1812 attributed to quite a few of those wrinkles.
Continue reading The Life Mask Face of James Madison – A Photoshop Restoration
With so many variations among paintings, one wonders just what did the Founding Fathers of the United States really look like. When creating my graphic novel about founding father and 4th president James Madison I wanted to have an accurate portrayal of Madison for my book. No photographs of Madison exist, but we do have his life mask showing his exact likeness.
Continue reading What Did The Founding Fathers Look Like? – James Madison
