Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 8 minutes ago
This is the first of four lectures in America’s Architecture of Freedom and Unfreedom, the 74th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts presented by Mabel O. Wilson of Columbia University.
Wilson explores the vision of statesman, architect, and planter Thomas Jefferson in designing Virginia’s new statehouse, a neoclassical building based on a Roman temple to symbolize and enable the power of “the people” to govern. She argues that by analyzing Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia” (1785), which includes an aesthetic and intellectual appraisal of works by enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley and was written during the same period he designed the capitol, we can better understand the complex relationship between democratic ideals and racial difference that shaped the nation’s new civic architecture.
Inaugurated in 1949, the Mellon Lectures is the longest-running lecture series at the National Gallery of Art. The series was founded “to bring to the people of the United States the results of the best contemporary thought and scholarship bearing upon the subject of the Fine Arts.” Learn more: nga.gov/research/center/programs/mellon-lectures
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This is the first of four lectures in America’s Architecture of Freedom and Unfreedom, the 74th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts presented by Mabel O. Wilson of Columbia University.
Wilson explores the vision of statesman, architect, and planter Thomas Jefferson in designing Virginia’s new statehouse, a neoclassical building based on a Roman temple to symbolize and enable the power of “the people” to govern. She argues that by analyzing Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia” (1785), which includes an aesthetic and intellectual appraisal of works by enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley and was written during the same period he designed the capitol, we can better understand the complex relationship between democratic ideals and racial difference that shaped the nation’s new civic architecture.
Inaugurated in 1949, the Mellon Lectures is the longest-running lecture series at the National Gallery of Art. The series was founded “to bring to the people of the United States the results of the best contemporary thought and scholarship bearing upon the subject of the Fine Arts.” Learn more: nga.gov/research/center/programs/mellon-lectures
Still haven’t subscribed to our YouTube channels?
National Gallery of Art ►►youtube.com/NationalGalleryofArtUS
National Gallery of Art Talks ►►youtube.com/NationalGalleryofArtTalks
ABOUT THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.
More National Gallery of Art Content:
Facebook: facebook.com/nationalgalleryofart
Twitter: twitter.com/ngadc
Instagram: instagram.com/ngadc
Pinterest: pinterest.com/ngadc/_created
E-News: https://mailchi.mp/nga.gov/signup
