【Hollywood Archives】
America’s First Connoisseur
Best of 2020
We’re away until January 4, but we’re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2020. Enjoy your holiday!
Seth Gilliam as James Hemings in Jefferson in Paris(1995)
Among his many claims to distinction, Thomas Jefferson can be regarded as America’s first connoisseur. The term and the concept emerged among the philosophes of eighteenth-century Paris, where Jefferson lived between 1784 and 1789. As minister to France he gorged on French culture. In five years, he bought more than sixty oil paintings, and many more objets d’art. He attended countless operas, plays, recitals, and masquerade balls. He researched the latest discoveries in botany, zoology and horticulture, and read inveterately—poetry, history, philosophy. In every inch of Paris he found something to stir his senses and cultivate his expertise. “Were I to proceed to tell you how much I enjoy their architecture, sculpture, painting, music,” he wrote a friend back in America, “I should want words.”
Ultimately, he poured all these influences into Monticello, the plantation he inherited from his father, which Jefferson redesigned into a palace of his own refined tastes. More than in its domed ceilings, its gardens, or its galleries, it was in Monticello’s dining room that Jefferson the connoisseur reigned. Here, he shared with his guests recipes, produce, and ideas that continue to have a sizable effect on how and what Americans eat.
Read more >>
Search
Categories
Latest Posts
DACApocalypse Now
2025-06-26 02:10We're not totally sure Trump knows who's leader of North Korea
2025-06-26 01:36Oprah brings the 'American Dirt' controversy to Apple TV+
2025-06-26 00:46Signs and Blunders
2025-06-26 00:35Popular Posts
Mattress Mack Will Save You
2025-06-26 01:56What we learned from Netflix's 'Love Is Blind' experiment
2025-06-26 01:55Tech giants to pay contractors despite virus
2025-06-26 01:41Wildly baffling video shows woman giving mouth
2025-06-26 01:29No Mothers, No Daughters
2025-06-26 00:52Featured Posts
Which Side Are They On?
2025-06-26 02:20Hinge will pay you $100 to get off your phone and go on a date
2025-06-26 01:45Tess Holliday calls out fat
2025-06-26 01:45These Citadels of Power
2025-06-26 01:02Popular Articles
The Online Culture Wars
2025-06-26 02:49International Women's Day marches around the world: Photos
2025-06-26 02:04How Softbank is adding spice to the Amazon
2025-06-26 01:27India bans one of its oldest symbols of VIP culture
2025-06-26 01:08Junk Merchants
2025-06-26 00:44Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.
Comments (4221)
Evergreen Information Network
The Opioid Thief
2025-06-26 01:58Inspiration Information Network
7 ways to help quell coronavirus
2025-06-26 01:58Upward Information Network
Twitter brings back special labels for profiles of political candidates
2025-06-26 00:55Micro Video Information Network
Entitled billionaire Elon Musk thinks coronavirus panic is 'dumb'
2025-06-26 00:38Progress Information Network
Poodles, doodles, and memory-challenged gnomes
2025-06-26 00:22