Summary of Jefferson Connections
- Jefferson's physical appearance at the age of 42 is consistent with that of the subject in the 1785 Delapierre portrait, based on comparisons of the portrait with known portraits of Jefferson and contemporary descriptions of him.
- Jefferson corresponded with all four individuals who helped write the book in the painting (De la Caisse d'Escompte) and provided materials for some of their writings.
- In particular, Jefferson—while serving in Paris—became closely acquainted with Mirabeau, the primary author of the book, greatly admired his oratory, and "was an eye and ear witness" to much of it.
- The action illustrated in the 1785 Delapierre portrait—which appears to include an abstract depiction of the word "Morocco," and possibly "Jefferson"—may be Jefferson's first step crafting a document dated 4 September 1785 concerning America's Treaty with Morocco.
- The 1785 Delapierre portrait may have been commissioned by Jefferson to satisfy what he thought was a request for the painting from Antoine-Jean-Marie Thévenard, a French naval commander highly esteemed by Jefferson.
- Jefferson, on 9 September 1786, made a mysterious payment for a picture to "Mlle Guyard"—likely Adelaide Labille-Guiard, a highly regarded French portrait painter. The research team uncovered a painting by Labille-Guiard having striking compositional similarities to the 1785 Delapierre portrait. The portrait similarities and payment indicate that Labille-Guiard may have had a role in the creation of the Delapierre portrait.
- In letters sent from London to Jefferson in Paris in 1786 and 1787, Abigail Adams mentioned a portrait of Jefferson in her London home. Art historians have assumed she was referring to a 1786 portrait by Mather Brown, until now believed to be the earliest known portrait of Jefferson. But analysis of a timeline of events—based on Jefferson's correspondence and contemporary press reporting—indicates that the Brown portrait was not in Adams' home when she wrote her letters, but rather in Brown's studio. This strongly suggests that Adams was referring in her letters to an earlier portrait of Jefferson.
- "Mirror-image" compositional similarities between the 1785 Delapierre portrait and a Mather Brown portrait of John Adams painted in London and sent to Jefferson in Paris in 1788 suggest that Brown had access to the Delapierre work in London, making it a reasonable candidate for the missing portrait mentioned by Abigail Adams in her London letters.
- Eight years after O. Roy Chalk purchased the 1785 Delapierre portrait, he traveled to Paris to purchase the 1789 Houdon bust of Jefferson now at Monticello. Chalk encountered considerable complications having it exported from France. This challenging process suggests that Chalk had a strong interest in Jefferson—consistent with his ownership of the Delapierre portrait if he thought that it too depicted Jefferson.
- The 1785 Delapierre portrait was in Florence, Italy, in October 1928—owned by the Italian art collector Ugo Bardini. The research team is investigating the possibility that the portrait was listed in a January 1812 inventory of possessions of Jefferson's and John and Abigail Adams' close friend Lucy Ludwell Paradise, was inherited by one of her two Italian grandsons in the early 19th century, and thereby made its way to Italy and Bardini's eventual possession.
- The research team has not found direct evidence connecting Jefferson and the artist Delapierre; however, Baron von Grimm—who had close ties with Jefferson in Paris and almost certainly was acquainted with Delapierre—could have introduced Jefferson to Delapierre.