 University
of Virginia President John T. Casteen III
(left) and Board of Visitors Rector Thomas
F. Farrell (right), along with other University
officials, friends, students and alumni
who live in Paris, Belgium, Holland and
England, attended the unveiling and dedication
of a statue of Thomas Jefferson in Paris
on July 4. The event was the culmination
of an almost 10-year effort by U.Va. alumni
in Paris, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation
and Guy Wildenstein, an art collector and
dealer based in New York and Paris. The
statue is a gift to the city of Paris from
the Florence Gould Foundation, which supports
French/American exchange and friendship,
and Alec and Guy Wildenstein in memory
of their father Daniel Wildenstein, on
the occasion of the 180th anniversary of
Jefferson’s death. The statue, the
only public statue of Jefferson in Paris,
was installed on the left bank of the Seine,
not far from where Jefferson lived when
he was minister to France. It sits catty-corner
from the Palace of the Legion of Honor,
which inspired Jefferson’s design
for Monticello.
U.Va.
News Services/Photo: Wayne Cozart
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