Classive Tradition
Ours is a Classive Tradition, a form of thought, a manner of understanding which resolves us into what, into who we are: good citizens of a nation which acknowledges our liberty of soul under God. The episodes of this work, “The-Beautiful-Home”, comprise a treatise, alike an encyclopedia, a compiled history rather more Herodotus than Thucydides, rather more delightful discovery than progressive determination. Here, upon the screen of these pages, we shall find ourselves at home in common experience, in Florida or California, in kitchen or library, at ranch, at townhouse, at each place we Americans share God-given liberty in beauty, in goodness, and in truth.
Within the physical borders of this nation, stories without number, homes that tell of the world that was, of the world that is, of the world that might be; within the borders of this screen, knowledge and delight. Each week of each episodic month, bright, wise and worldly contributors will offer insights, tips, descriptions of house, of home, of beautiful living. This first month, in truth, this first half-month, the “Jeffersonian Home”, variations on the home of our third president, Thomas Jefferson, “Monticello”, that American treasure whose name in Italian means, “little mountain”. There is much to show of Monticello, much to tell of Jefferson, much to consider in stylistic variations of the Jeffersonian and of the many occupations which grew from the man and his home:
a nation, of course, intellectual tradition, of course, then also wines and flowers, gadgets and inventions, columns and volumes, merriment and attainment, the handicraft of statecraft.
Jefferson’s Monticello, Albemarle County, Virginia. credit: Konstantin L.
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Today, April 13, 2021, the 278thanniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth – my goodness, how time flies, only ten generations separating you from Thos. Jefferson – this announcement of THE BEAUTIFUL HOME, a consideration of domestic felicity, a guide to improvements, a history of architecture, a biography of America, of these united states of America.
Watch this space, The Beautiful Home, for curiosities, announcements, and details of THE BEAUTIFUL HOME, September 1 launch.
Then, you might like to know, following after Monticello, Virginia, Charlottesville, Jefferson, and all things Jeffersonian, in October THE BEAUTIFUL HOME goes Modern, Mid-Century Modern, visits modish steel-homes, the California Dream, ranch homes and glass homes and technology, shed-like, hip and easy.
For our Classive Tradition, you might like a copy of Classical Architecture and Monuments of Washington, D.C.: A History and Guide.
We all look forward to visiting with you at
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Featured image: Palladio’s Villa Capra, “La Rotonda“; Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. credit: scatto79
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A sculptor, painter, historian, architectural designer, and poet, Michael Curtis has taught and lectured at universities, colleges, and museums, including The Institute of Classical Architecture, The Center for Creative Studies, and The National Gallery of Art;
his pictures and statues are housed in over 400 private and public collections, including The Library of Congress, The National Portrait Gallery, and The Supreme Court;
he has made statues of presidents, generals, Supreme Court Justices, captains of industry and national heroes, including Davey Crockett, General Eisenhower, and Justice Thurgood Marshall;
his relief and medals are especially fine, they include, among others, presidents Truman and Reagan, Justice John Marshall, George Washington, and, his History of Texas, containing over one-hundred figures, is the largest American relief sculpture of the 20th Century;
his monuments and memorials, buildings and houses, including The New American Home, 2011, are found coast-to-coast;
his plays, essays, verse and translations have been published in over 30 journals (Trinacria, Society of Classical Poets, Expansive Poetry, et cetera), and his most recent nonfiction books are, Occasional Poetry: How to Write Poems for Any Occasion (The Studio Press), and The Classical Architecture and Monuments of Washington, D.C. (The History Press); his most recent book of verse is, Modern Art: An Exhibition of Criticism (National Civic Art Society);
Mr. Curtis is the Common Sense Society’s Artist-in-Residence.
Other sites where Mr. Curtis can be found: The Classical Artist (art, architecture, and design), The Studio Press (essays and books – fiction and exposition, verse and prose).
