The transatlantic design network: Thomas Jefferson, John Soane, and agents of architectural exchange

Abstract

"Although a good deal has been written about the voluminous intellectual exchange between Europe and the Americas in the eighteenth century across various humane disciplines, no study to date has focused on architectural culture, despite the fact that numerous Europeans made their way across the Atlantic to design some of America's most important buildings. Here Danielle Willkens fills that gap, defining and expounding the "transatlantic design network" of mainly British and American individuals that included Thomas Jefferson, the architect John Soane, and Maria Cosway, an acclaimed painter, musician, composer, and educator who maintained a lifelong correspondence with both Jefferson and Soane. She shows how, contrary to their reputations, neither Jefferson nor Soane represents the product of a singular architectural vision. The contributions of other architects, designers, philosophers, and friends have been effectively effaced from both Monticello and the Soane House. Willkens here corrects the record, mapping the influence of this crucial hidden network on architecture and aesthetics on both sides of the Atlantic."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

People -- Sites -- Legacies.