The 2019 Mount Vernon Symposium-David Maxfield Scholarships

In 1790, George Washington tasked Gouverneur Morris, the American minister to France, to purchase a variety of fashionable French objects for decorating his presidential dining table. In making selections, Morris wrote that it was imperative “to fix the taste of our Country properly,” and that grounding the new nation in the classical tradition, which has “been fashionable above two thousand years,” was the means to achieve this.

These men and their contemporaries inhabited a world heavily influenced by ancient Rome and Greece. Classical references permeated their societies in everything from government to education, from drama to literature. With the archaeological discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum and the widespread popularity of Andrea Palladio’s designs, the realms of art and architecture also came to be dominated by classical forms and motifs. Washington himself embraced the classical spirit, and with his design for Mount Vernon’s “New Room,” took the lead in introducing neoclassicism to America. The David Maxfield Scholarships are intended to support students and people early in their careers to attend the Mount Vernon Symposium and learn from leading curators, historians, and art and architectural historians as they examine a wide variety of Greco-Roman styles, influences, references, and forms that early Americans admired and celebrated.

Thanks to a generous supporter, the Washington Library is pleased to offer a limited number of scholarships to undergraduate students, graduate students, and young career professionals in the fields of architectural history, preservation, art history, decorative arts, material culture, history, and related subjects. The scholarship will cover the cost of one ticket to the symposium ($350), which includes all meals, tours, and lectures. Those who receive the scholarship will need to cover their own transportation to and from the symposium at Mount Vernon as well as their lodging. Scholarship applications are due by 11:59 pm on Monday, April 8, 2019.

To apply, please visit the following link: https://www.mountvernon.org/library/library-events-programs/the-2019-mou...