SerpApi.Org
There’s a new figure gracing the White House Rose Garden. President Donald Trump just added a life-sized statue of former President Thomas Jefferson to the stone-paved terrace, which underwent a $2 million hardscaping makeover last year at his request.
Created by Colorado-based artist George Lundeen in 1994, the bronze sculpture depicts the nation’s third president seated with a quill in hand, along with a draft of the Declaration of Independence set on a portable writing desk. The work of art is perched atop a cement granite base, per the New York Post.
Independent filmmaker Steven C. Barber coordinated the donation, which he estimated was worth $150,000. Trump apparently installed the statue of the Founding Father in the Rose Garden last week. There, it joins sculptures of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Revolutionary War soldiers—all of which are on loan from Republican donor Harlan Crow.
Lundeen is also behind the statue of Trump himself that is now installed in Florida, at the Trump International Golf Club. Depicting Trump with an outstretched fist, the work was made in collaboration with Joey Bainer and Lundeen’s brother, Mark Lundeen.
After Trump leaves office, the future of Lundeen’s Rose Garden statue remains unclear. According to USA Today, the National Archives might relocate the work to Trump’s planned presidential library, which will be located in downtown Miami. Another possibility is the library donating it to the White House, in which case it would be under the purview of the White House Usher’s Office and the National Park Service.
