After the precious portrait of four-term Virginia Gov. James Monroe was safe in the Executive Mansion in Richmond, first lady Maureen McDonnell texted the governor at the Capitol, “James is here!”
Two centuries after he signed legislation to have the Virginia Executive Mansion built, James Monroe has received a formal invitation to the home of the state’s governor.
A near life-size portrait of the fifth United States president, on loan from UMW’s James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library and attributed to American neoclassical painter Rembrandt Peale, was unveiled in the mansion’s State Dining Room on June 21. It will remain on view there for two years in celebration of the 2013 bicentennial of the building’s construction.
Installed in February in the oval- shaped dining room, the three- quarter-length portrait and its large gold frame have considerable heft. The piece was carefully transported and installed by art handlers from Ely Inc. and staff members from the Executive Mansion and the Library of Virginia. James Monroe Museum Curator Jarod Kearney and Director Scott Harris also were on hand for the installation.
Once the portrait was in place, Harris said, “first lady Maureen McDonnell texted the governor, who was at the State Capitol, telling him ‘James is here!’”
Before the stately Executive Mansion was built, Virginia’s governors, including Monroe, lived in a modest frame house on the same site.
Born in Westmoreland County, Va., in 1758, Monroe served as United States senator and as American ambassador to France before being elected governor of Virginia. He held that office for four terms, from 1799 to 1802 and again in 1811. He resigned to become Secretary of State that same year and was Secretary of War in 1814 and 1815. Monroe served two terms as president, from 1817 to 1825.
The James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library, administered by the University of Mary Washington, is the nation’s largest repository of artifacts and documents related to the fifth president of the United States.