TJ at W&L

May 4, 2018

For some reason it occurred to me I ought to write down somewhere the story of Thomas Jefferson at W&L.

By TJ at W&L I mean this portrait.

Here is what the W&L art collection says about the painting: Oil painting of Thomas Jefferson. He is seated with his body facing slightly to his right and face turned to look at the
viewer. He wears a dark coat, open at the neck and revealing a ruffled shirt and stock. The coat has a high collar that
appears to be tied in the back of the neck with black ribbons. He has short wavy salt and pepper hair and brown eyes.
More notes from the collections file- Loaned to the Governor's Executive Mansion in Richmond Virginia in February 1994, returned in August 2003.
And -
Plaque on the frame reads:
1743 THOMAS JEFFERSON 1826
BY HEALY AFTER STUART
ON LOAN FROM WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, obviously put there by the state of Virginia.
This painting was given to W&L by Dr. William N. Mercer in 1875 (6/22/1875) and was painted in 1860. The valuation in W&L's records is $150,000.

What follows is the story of how the portrait left Lexington and then came home.

At some time in the 90s former Gov. Linwood Holton, a W&L grad, either asked W&L to lend the painting to the Governor's Mansion or was asked to facilitate the loan. Time marched on and there was no offer from Virginia to return the painting. Jim Whitehead, treasurer of the university and unofficial head of W&L art collecting (Reeves Center), evidently somehow brought this story up in conversation with Dick Haynes, the founder of the Texas law firm Haynes and Boone, and a former W&L trustee who came on the board when I did in 1987. Dick decided he would help Jim get the painting back. One day probably in 2002 Dick called me at my NewMarket/ Albemarle office and said he needed some help from a powerful Virginian. That was not I, but it turned out I could help. I told Dick I happened to have a meeting with Tim Kaine, Virginia's Lt. Gov. at the time and son in law of Gov. Holton, and that I would ask him about getting the loaned portrait back to Lexington. That actually did work and after Peter Grover talked to the state art collection guy TJ came back to Lexington.
As I reflect on this and read Dick's last paragraph in the letter from 2003 below, I wonder if the W&L records are correct about the amount of time TJ was in Richmond. If Dick has been thinking about this for 20 years, that would put the loan back at least to 1983. Holton was Governor 1970- 1974. Could the loan have been in 1974 not 1994? On the other hand Dick did not become a trustee until 1987. Or perhaps Dick exaggerated about the time spent thinking about TJ and it was really closer to 8 years. I don't know.
What I do know is that Dick sent one of his firm's young lawyer's with UVA ties to Richmond to scout out the location and condition of the painting at the Governor's Mansion. That lawyer was Shawn Urelius who came to Virginia from Haynes and Boone to be an in house lawyer at Hamilton Beech and then joined Albemarle. Guessing from Shawn's estimated law school graduation date, that visit would have been in about 1996.
As a footnote, Dick Haynes, a great guy, and a very distinguished alum of W&L, died in 2006.

 At present TJ is on display in the President's House at W&L. Will Dudley, the president, is from Charlottesville so this seems very appropriate.