Looking for a history-rich way to celebrate independence this July? Consider a visit to our second president’s home, and the dining room recently renovated by Ralph Lauren Home. Today, Area descends on Virginia, to the estate of Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, formerly featured on the back of the $2 bill and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987.
A few years ago, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation discovered that the Wedgwood blue dining room, as photographed in every history book, was not actually blue when President Jefferson dined there. Extensive research showed that Jefferson chose a brilliant chrome yellow around 1815 (the Wedgewood blue color only dates to 1936, before scientific analysis of paint existed).
Chrome yellow was one of the most fashionable colors of the time and also one of the most expensive, costing $5 per pound, twice as much as Prussian blue and 33 times more than white lead. In addition, yellow tinted walls provided a more luminous reflection of sunlight and candlelight prior to household electricity.
Enter Ralph Lauren Home. Working in partnership with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Ralph Lauren sponsored the dining room restoration, including a reproduction of a sideboard similar to one Jefferson bought in 1790, a French marble console table, and an interpretation of the Abbeville carpet Jefferson purchased in France in the 1780s. This work continued Ralph Lauren’s history of funding the preservation of American treasures, including the original Star-Spangled Banner at the Smithsonian.
Jefferson designed his Monticello home outside of Charlottesville himself, basing it on the neoclassical principles described in the books of the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Its name comes from the Italian "little mountain,” as it sits on the summit of an 850-foot-high peak. The dining room is where Jefferson entertained statesmen and citizens including the Marquis de Lafayette, James Madison, and James Monroe, and where he perfected the art of the power dinner.
The authentically restored Dining Room opened to the public June 11.
