Mocking idleness and turning labor [in the North] into a badge of honor made the South, with its leisured aristocracy supported by slavery, seem even more anomalous than it had been at the time of the Revolution, thus aggravating the growing sectional split in the country. Many Southern aristocrats began emphasizing their cavalier status in contrast to the money-grubbing northern Yankees. They were fond of saying that they were real gentlemen, a rare thing in America.
Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741—1828)
Plaster, painted to resemble terra cotta; cast about 1788; 27 3/4 x 19 1/8 x 12 in. (70.485 x 48.5775 x 30.48 cm).
Cast when Marquis de Lafayette was 28.
Based on the life mask cast by Houdon in 1785.
Marble. State Artwork Collection, Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA.
Terra cotta patinated plaster. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Monticello, Charlottesville, VA.
Plaster. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY.
Based on the life mask cast by Houdon when he visited Mount Vernon in 1785.
Based on the life mask cast by Houdon when he visited Mount Vernon in 1785.
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)