April 2022

 Saving Monticello: The Newsletter

The latest about the book, author events, and more

Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson

 

Volume XIX, Number 4                                          April 1, 2022

“The study of the past is a constantly evolving, never-ending journey of discovery.” – Eric Foner

MARTHA WOODWARD: One day last month as I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw before-and-after images of a drawing of the East Front of Monticello dating from the mid-1830s that the terrific Curatorial, Collections, and Restoration team at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation had recently restored. 

The drawing, the post noted, “was in ROUGH shape when we first acquired it” in 2016. “The varnish had discolored, it was extremely brittle, and there were numerous tears,” some of which “were repaired with tape, which had yellowed and deteriorated over time.” The Foundation brought in an expert art conservator who spent “many hours cleaning, mending, and flattening,” the drawing, and as you can see from the before-and-after photos below, it “was brought back to life—all thanks to the amazing work of our conservators."

 

Aside from the great restoration and conservation work, several other things drew me to this story: The fact that I’d never seen this photo before, as images of Monticello in the 1830s are extremely rare; that’d I’d not heard of the artist, Martha Woodward; and—most significantly—that it likely was drawn in 1834. 

What’s significant about 1834? Only the fact that that was the year that Uriah Levy purchased Monticello from James T. Barclay, and solid historical evidence has convinced me and every other historian who’s studied the history of Monticello that the house was in terrible condition in 1834. As I noted in Saving Monticello, a visitor at the time wrote that “all was in dilapidation and ruin.” The Woodward drawing painted a very different picture and I wanted to see if the date was correct and, if so, if it could be determined that she was romanticizing what she saw to present a pristine image of the house and grounds. 

After doing an online search, I came up blank, so I emailed Emilie Johnson, Monticello’s Associate Curator, who has a wide knowledge of the provenance and other historical matters relating to the artwork at Monticello. Emilie, like everyone else at the Foundation, has been extremely supportive of my work and I was pleased that she filled me in on Martha Woodward and the drawing. 

She told me that not much is known about Martha Woodward, other than the fact that she, indeed, was an artist, and that she and her sister Maria were close friends of Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughters, particularly Ellen Randolph Coolidge. Martha and Maria Woodward, Emilie said, “were part of an extended Randolph cousin circle that the Randolph granddaughters (in particular) socialized with in the 1810s and 1820s.” 

Emilie also told me that an 1825 letter digitized on the Foundation’s “Jefferson Quotes and Family Letters” page describes Martha Woodward making another drawing that year of Monticello’s West Front “from nature” and from “a position at the edge of the Grove.” 

The Foundation, Emilie said, has a set of two other Woodward drawings in their collection. One includes an 1827 date and both are associated with Septimia Meikleham (1814-87), Ellen Randolph Coolidge’s youngest sister. 

As far as the date of the Woodward drawing, its paper, Emilie said, has an 1834 watermark, which strongly indicates it was made that year. She also said that the 1825 and 1834 drawings present “quite similar” views of the house, except the trees in the later drawing “are larger and fuller than the other. The hand is quite different—details of the house, like the bricks, are more finely rendered in the later picture.” 

So it appears that Martha Woodward “got much better as an artist in the 5-10 years between these works.” On the other hand, “the Woodward sisters were involved with female education, so maybe the 1834 drawing is by a teaching artist and [the 1825 one] is a student’s work.”  

As for my $64,000 question—If the painting is from 1834, did Woodward romanticize it to show Monticello in pristine condition when we are all but certain it was in sad shape?—Emilie said that “it seems like this work connects to Woodward’s visits here in the mid-1820s (perhaps through sketches or memory), rather than Woodward coming back to the property after Uriah Levy bought it.” 

So it’s possible that the 1834 painting is “based off her sketches and memories, and maybe extrapolated tree growth” or perhaps “an art teacher who was associated with the Woodward family’s educational interests” painted it. 

Unless and until more information comes to light about the 1834 drawing—if the second drawing is Woodward’s work—Emilie said, she agrees with my thought that “Woodward probably was romanticizing her view, as well as perhaps reveling in her improved artistic facility.” Meanwhile, it’s indisputable that “they are a remarkable pair of drawings, as much for their view of the more often overlooked East Front as for the concept of change over time they represent.” 

Stay tuned for updates as Emilie and her colleagues continue to look into Martha Woodward and the two paintings. 

p.s. If you’re a historic house preservation nerd as I am, I highly recommend the Monticello Curatorial, Collections, and Restoration team on Instagram at “preservingmonticello”

 

‘THE LEVYS OF MONTICELLO’ DOC:  I asked my friend and colleague Steven Pressman to fill SM Newsletter readers in on his visit to Savannah last month for the first in-person showing of his great new documentary, “The Levys of Monticello.” It took place at historic Mickve Israel, the nation’s third-oldest Jewish congregation, which was established in 1733 by 40 Jews who had journeyed from Portugal, via London, escaping the Inquisition.  

Here’s Steve’s report: 

I had the great honor of showing ‘The Levys of Monticello’ at Congregation Mickve Israel as part of the Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival. Not only was this my first trip to Savannah, but it was also a special thrill for the film to be shown at a synagogue that played such a pivotal role in the Levy family story.

As readers of Marc’s book know, Uriah Levy’s great-great grandfather, Dr. Samuel Nunez, was among a small group of Jews who sailed from London to Savannah in 1733 and went on to form the Mickve Israel Congregation.

The film screening was also memorable for me because—thanks to the pandemic—it happened to be the first time in two years that I was able to show one of my films to a live, in-person audience. There was even popcorn for sale before the movie started.

EVENTS: Just one event his month: A talk on the history of the American flag, based on my book, Flag: An American Biography, on Tuesday, April 19, at the monthly meeting of the George Mason DAR Chapter in Springfield, Virginia.

 If you’d like to arrange an event for Saving Monticello—or for any of my other books, please email me at marcleepson@gmail.com

For details on other upcoming events, check the Events page on my website:  https://bit.ly/NewAppearances

GIFT IDEAS:  Want a personally autographed, brand-new paperback copy of Saving Monticello? Please e-mail me at marcleepson@gmail.com  I also have a few as-new, unopened hardcover copies, along with a good selection of brand-new copies of my other books: Flag: An American Biography; Desperate Engagement; What So Proudly We Hailed; Flag: An American Biography; and Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler.