Plaza Art Auction New York City items of Jefferson Monroe Levy of Monticello

Louis XV Beadstead conveyed to TJMF, auctioned NYC

When Jefferson Monroe Levy acquired Monticello, there were few items remaining that were original to Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Levy was wealthy and successful, never marrying and this was not his primary home. He therefor set out to restore the interior of Monticello to museum quality purchasing items that he believed to represent Thomas Jefferson's style. When he conveyed Monticello to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation he also sold to them many of the furnishings he had collected. I'm sure Mr. Levy felt that not only was the building historically significant but also the items he had spent years accumulating. He was in dire financial straights needing money to cover his debt. He cried the day he signed over Monticello and died just 3 months later of heart failure.

First pg of NYC Auction Catalog

Read my prior blog post to catch up on the details of the two auctions that were held to distribute Mr. Levy's vast collection. In December of 1928, over 5 days, an auction was held at the Plaza Art Auction Rooms in New York City. The first page of the Auction Catalog shows a photo of Monticello and the following introductory page headline refers to "Art Furnishings" from Monticello. What makes this Auction a bit tricky is that it included items from other consignors, one being millionaire John Markle, who owned a successful Mining Company. He set up a Foundation of his own in 1927 to distribute his wealth prior to his death in 1933. The catalog has sporadic notations as to items being from Monticello but of the 8 photos in the catalog, 6 were of items from Monticello, several of which were photographed in rooms at Monticello. I did find documents online indicating that all proceeds from this sale were used for the purchase of Monticello but the catalog makes no reference to this. My conclusion is that items were in fact donated by various individuals and Foundations to help with the purchase of Monticello and that all proceeds were given to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation.

Second pg of NYC Auction Catalog

To help decipher which items potentially belonged to Mr. Levy, I found a list of over 300 items conveyed to Monticello in the book written by Melvin Urofsky, The Levy Family and Monticello. This list is organized room by room and is very specific but at times refers to "books" or "cases of books", "chairs", and "carpets" so the actual physical number of items transferred would be much more than 300 items. Interestingly, no mention of statuary or exterior property was specified as being transferred to The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. We do have historic photographic and newspaper documentation that the 2 lion statues on the West Portico were transferred to The Foundation. There is also one statue from the grounds of Monticello listed in the auction catalog. Interestingly I have never seen this particular statue in historic photos but I have seen 2 other Greek style statues.

Marcus Aurelius Statue #750, #751 not listed as from Mont.

It's remarkable that so many elaborate items were auctioned over 5 days (don't forget, there was also an auction at Monticello the month prior). Each day approximately 200 items were up for purchase for a total of 1057 items. Piles and piles of English, French, and American books, carpets, rugs, tapestries, oil paintings, furniture, statuary, and silver were auctioned.

On Day 1, 255 individual book titles were auctioned, of which many were large volume sets, giving a day total of over 2,210 individual books. There is no mention of any from Monticello but Thomas Jefferson stored 6,000 volumes of books in his book room so there certainly was space in the library for the many volumes that were auctioned.

A few of the book titles were as follows:

• The Works of Thomas Jefferson, a 12 volume set, priced today at $1,200.00
• Shakespeare's Works, a 12 volume illustrated set, priced today at $5,000.00
• Ships papers of the Brig of Olivia, signed by Jefferson and Madison

Day's 2-5 consisted of just over 800 auction items, mainly decorative Furniture, Oil Paintings, Linens, Rugs, Carpets, Tapestries, China, Dinner Services, Chairs, Clock Sets, Oil Paintings, and English Silver. A few items of interest were:

• Ebony Chickering Grand Piano
• Ornate Gild French Beds
• Louis XV carved Salon Sofa
• Miniature Commode with inlaid walnut and 2 drawers
• Painting Gainesborough Dupont (mid to late 1700's) Portrait of Lady in Blue. (There is a Lady in Blue at the National Gallery
• Ormolu Firedogs - Decorative Gilt Andirons  
• Moonlight Landscape Blakelot similar works sold $30,000 in a future auction

3 piece Clock and Vase set at Monticello

Thirteen items were specifically noted in the catalog as being in rooms that Thomas Jefferson occupied or at Monticello. I found it interesting that on occasion they referred to Thomas Jefferson, not Monticello, even though the items were being auctioned specifically because they never belonged to Thomas Jefferson (good marketing tactic).

The following catalog items were noted as being from Monticello:

• Gilt Beadstead, hand carved Louis XV (#300 Bed with Canopy)
• Two green and gold hand carved Bedsteads (Twin Beds), said to come from King Ludwig in Munich and used by "The Mad King" 
• Bronze and Rosewood Inkstand
• Set of 22 Flags of the Nations (acquired during a period of years at Monticello)
• Roman Gilt Table, Carved with marble top inlaid with lapis lazuli and precious stones
• Bronze 42 Light Chandelier 
• Italian Marble Bust, Lotus Eater
• Marcus Aurelius Statue on lawn at Monticello
• Round checkerboard ebonized table, top inlaid with semi-precious stones, signed Palozzo dei Caesari, Febraio, 1869
• Model of First Corliss Engine
• Miniature water color painting presented to Monticello
• Pandora Clock and Pedestal, representing the mischievous goddess with her casket of troubles that once adorned the palace of Louis XV
• Royal Sevres Clock and Vases, bought from France
• Blue and gold Clock, with 2 four-branch candelabra  

1912 Holsinger historic photography collection

Once again the search for the last pair of Levy Lions has been thwarted. From this last bit of research, one can conclude that not all items transferred from the Mr. Levy to The Foundation were documented. As we have discovered 3 outside marble statues were conveyed but not documented. So far, we have no evidence that the pair of sitting lions made it to auction BUT we do have hearsay that 2 lion statues were sent to the dump. I still have hope that their fate was otherwise.

To read my entire research into the mystery of the Levy Lions, I'm listing the sequence of links for your convenience:

Blog #1: The Levy Family and Monticello
Blog #2: Monticello Levy Lions
Blog #3: Historical Levy Lion Library Research
Blog #4: The Monticello Levy Lion Saga Continues, Part IV

I would like to thank the amazing library staff at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for helping me with this weeks blog research.

-Rebecca

1928 Auction of the Levy Property at Monticello and New York City

Two auctions occurred at Monticello during its 244 year lifespan. The first was in 1827 after Thomas Jefferson passed away. His daughter was required to sell all furnishings, the house, and 140 slaves to pay his accumulated debt. It took 4 years to "unload" the house for a mere $7,500.

The second auction was held in November of 1928 after the new owners, The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, set on a fundraising mission in 1923 to raise 1 million dollars to purchase Monticello. The goal of The Foundation was to rehab Monticello back to the 1809 - 1826 Jefferson era which meant disposing of items belonging to the prior owner, Jefferson Levy. The work continues to this day to remove all property and building modifications that were made during the 90 year sporadic ownership of Monticello by the Levy family. Fortunately in the 1980's steps were taken by The Foundation to restore the Levy family history.

1914 Sitting Lions and interesting sign to visitors by Holsinger

For many, many years Monticello was open to just about anyone that meandered up the mountain. Property owners were often not on site and Monticello was a "second home" managed by hired help to look after things. Because it was an ex-President's home, there was money to be made by charging admission but often there was little control over what people did or where they went. So Monticello had become quite the popular place to visit especially when automobile travel made the voyage easier. By 1900 it is recorded that 50,000 people made the trek each year. Apparently things were being damaged as a posted signs states, "Visitors allowed on grounds 20 minutes, Do no pull or break shrubbery, No lunching on the grounds". So one would imagine that a nationally advertised auction held at Monticello would be a HUGE deal. I've found no record of what occurred at the auction, as to what was sold or the turnout. Was it a stampede up the mountain or a fizzle?

More statues @ Monticello by Holsinger

When the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation originally took over Monticello it was headquartered in New York City. What you may not know is that there was another auction held in New York City as part of the 1928 disposal of Levy family items. In December, a month after the auction at Monticello, select items were sent to New York to be auctioned. I envision a few "high society" items and found a reference to some statuary being included in this sale. Because I had been researching the auction of 4 Lion statues for several years, I was very interested in trying to track down exactly what items were part of this auction. Maybe the missing "Sitting with Shield" lions were included!

Grounds @ Monticello by Holsinger

After some serious googling, I found a reference to a brochure listing the items in the NYC auction. Up until this point, I had not encountered any published references to the exact items auctioned. Because this auction was only 1 months after the auction held at the Monticello, I felt these items had been pre-selected and never part of the auction held at Monticello.

What sort of items do you believe were auctioned? Are you hanging on the edge of your seat? I was until I received the contents of the brochure and was I ever surprised.

It's so revealing that I'll have to write about it in my next blog post. So stay tuned!

1925 Restoration of Monticello from the book by M. Urosfky

Historic photos by Rufus Holsinger are copyrighted and not for commercial use as noted from the UVA Special Collections Library.

The last photo is a snapshot of the Levy Lions amid scaffolding is from the book, The Levy Family and Monticello by Melvin Urosfky.

-Rebecca

New York Manhattan Gardens

View atop the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A recent trip to Manhattan in New York City gave me the opportunity to see so many wonderful gardens.  My last trip to the city was in the 1980s and Manhattan seems to be cleaner, warmer, and a little greener.

Riverside Park volunteers keep the flower beds beautiful.

I stayed a few blocks from Riverside Park with a longtime friend that I'm selling items for in my Etsy shop.  We took a quick stroll my first night in the city to this lovely waterfront park.  It has a historic feel to it as many monuments and older apartment buildings dot one side of the park.  The other side is on the Hudson River which divides Manhattan and New Jersey.   Several large flower beds containing an array of colorful and often unusual species are maintained solely by local residents.

I had read online about the transformation of an elevated rail bed into glorious gardens. I couldn't wait to go check out the High Line.

It was wonderful.  We walked for probably 2 hours on a Saturday and it became more and more crowded as we strolled. This project, which was probably once looked upon as a little crazy, has shot life back into the historic Meat Packing district. There are housing and retail projects popping up all around this popular walking trail.

Battery Park Flowerbeds

Another green area that is in the process of being transformed is down on the southern most end of Manhattan.  Battery Park is experiencing a lot of construction but the parts that were open were beautifully landscaped and the park also offers a side view of Lady Liberty. I could have stayed in this park all day, sitting among the gardens with a view of the water.

Unitarian Church sweet Statue.

As we explored Manhattan, I found myself trying to discover little secret gardens.  There was a welcoming respite from the city traffic at the 1819 historic Unitarian Church of All Souls. I also enjoyed spotting the balcony gardens that I so wished I could see closeup. Beautiful entryways are often landscaped as were the small beds around trees on sidewalks.

Of course there is "the park" of Manhattan and that would be Central Park. I only had time to explore the section around the lake near Columbus Circle.  I encountered, of all things, a Heron!  I never expected to see that in Manhattan.  The Elderberry, wild Raspberry, Daylily, and Bottle Brush Buckeye were in full bloom.

I was so impressed with the few gardens I visited over 4 days.  I know there are many more.

I LOVE NY - the city of GREEN.

-Rebecca