‘Man of the Mountain’: Seeing Jefferson at Monticello

Thomas Jefferson's retirement at Monticello, perched atop a mountain and designed with classical influences, revealed his strategic cultivation of a self-image rooted in British landed gentility. While Jefferson sought to distance himself from European norms as part of his republican ideals, the study finds that his retreat instead aligned him with an elite, cosmopolitan tradition. This duality—balancing rural simplicity with refined cosmopolitanism—complicates the narrative of Jefferson's vision for American identity and governance.

Tietze Larson, V. S. (2019). ‘Man of the Mountain’: Seeing Jefferson at Monticello. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 42(3), 283–301. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/1754-0208.12618