North View of the White House, White House Collection

This photograph by Mathew Brady is affixed to a decorative mount and shows the bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson that was a prominent fixture in front of the Executive Mansion during the mid-nineteenth century. Brady was one of the first professional photographers in the United States. He studied under inventor Samuel B. Morse, who brought the daguerreotype from France to America. Brady achieved his fame documenting the Civil War. The statue of Thomas Jefferson was commissioned by Navy Lieutenant Uriah Levy and sculpted in France by Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. It was removed from the White House grounds in in 1874 and placed first in National Statuary Hall and then in the Rotunda, both of which are in the Capitol Building.