How does Thomas Jefferson (Bitter) elucidate its Cuyahoga County Courthouse, Cleveland?
In 1909, Bitter was commissioned to create a bronze statue of a seated Thomas Jefferson and a bronze statue of a seated Alexander Hamilton, to flank the entrance steps to the Cuyahoga County Courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio. Both works were cast by the Roman Bronze Works, and installed in 1911. The Jefferson is approximately 72 in (180 cm) in height.Jefferson is depicted wearing 18th-century clothes, sitting in a klismos chair and holding "papers of state in hand." According to Ferdinand Schevill, "It is a youthful and rebellious Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence who appears before us in Cleveland." James Dennis describes the statue as having a "generally rustic appearance" in contrast to the nearby Hamilton whom he sees as an "aggressive young aristocrat."Bitter also created two marble attic figures for the courthouse, John Somers and Lord Mansfield.
Cleveland Roman Bronze Works klismos chair Cleveland, Ohio John Somers bronze Declaration of Independence Lord Mansfield Ohio Thomas Jefferson Alexander Hamilton Cuyahoga County Courthouse