Focus on this artwork and explain the Origins.
It was commissioned in 1832 by Jewish naval officer and New York real estate investor Uriah Phillips Levy, who was interested in Thomas Jefferson (eventually purchasing his home of Monticello in 1836 with the goal of historic preservation). Uriah told a friend that he had the statue made in tribute of Jefferson's stance on religious liberty, which he credited for his ability to succeed in the United States government as a Jewish man.Levy visited the Paris studio of accomplished sculptor and École des Beaux Arts professor Pierre-Jean David d’Angers in 1832 and contracted the statue. Marquis de Lafayette provided his portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Thomas Sully for a reference. The statue was completed in clay in 1834 and was cast in bronze by Honoré Gonon and Sons. A story said that when the statue was finished, Lafayette embraced it, saying "Mon ami, mon ami" ("My friend, my friend").The statue shows Jefferson with a pen in one hand and a copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in the other. There are also two books and a laurel wreath between his feet. On February 6, 1834, Levy gave the painted plaster model of the statue to the City of New York.In March 1834, Levy offered the bronze statue to the Congress, and it was accepted in a letter by Senator Asher Robbins of Rhode Island, who was Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library. The Senate agreed to accept the statue, but in debate some House members questioned it for a variety of reasons, including if it was proper to have a statue of Jefferson before they installed one of George Washington.
Asher Robbins U.S. Declaration of Independence Honoré Gonon Joint Committee on the Library Uriah Phillips Levy George Washington Thomas Sully Marquis de Lafayette Thomas Jefferson Monticello École des Beaux Arts laurel wreath