Above the fireplace in the Parlor hang two gilt- bronze sconces purchased by Jefferson during his years as ambassador to France between 1784 and 1789. Typically placed next to a mirror to increase their luminescence, this type of sconce remained a popular form of lighting well into the 19th century. Research by Monticello’s curatorial team indicates that after Jefferson’s death, his grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph acquired these sconces at the 1827 Monticello dispersal sale. Randolph used them at his nearby estate and plantation, Edgehill, where they remained until the Carter family purchased them at a cousin’s estate sale. The Carters have generously allowed the sconces to be on display in Monticello’s Parlor for the past 30 years. A recent project to reproduce these sconces combines modern techniques with traditional craftsmanship. A conservator carefully made molds of the original sconces using a modern silicone rubber that did not damage the antique brass. Next, the Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, created bronze reproductions using a traditional lost-wax casting method much like the process used to produce the originals in 18th-century France. The reproductions will be available for study by researchers and loaned to Bob and Carol Carter in appreciation of their long-term loan of the originals. This project was made possible by the following donors: E. B. Duff Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, The Anne Carter and Walter R. Robins Jr. Foundation, The Rock Foundation and Rita M. Smith. GUIDING LIGHTS Reproducing Jefferson’s sconces
Left: One of a pair of sconces in the Parlor. Below: As part of the sconce reproduction process, complex molds of more than 20 individual pieces were carefully made by conservator Andy Compton.
New Life for an Old Mill
portions of the stone walls remain. Monticello’s
Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 just over 3 miles from Monticello at Shadwell, the main plantation of his father, Peter Jefferson. Named after the parish in London where his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, was born, Shadwell was passed down to Jefferson by his father and served as farmland. The ruin of a mill built in 1807 is the only visible structure remaining at Shadwell. Part of a once bustling mill complex along the Rivanna River, Jefferson’s
restoration department partnered with Dominion Traditional
Building Group to carefully stabilize the ruin. They replaced missing and deteriorated mortar between the
gristmill was used to grind
both Jefferson’s wheat and that of his neighbors.
The Shadwell mill restoration won the 2022 Gabriella Page Preservation Award for Outstanding Preservation Project from Preservation Virginia.
remaining stones, installed a cap to ensure that water sheds properly off the structure, and injected grout behind fragments of original plaster on the interior walls.
Since then, the mill has deteriorated, and only
Learn more about Jefferson's mill operations at monticello.org/mills.
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